Tims Times

One of my old ships was on a regular run to LOOP or Louisiana Offshore Oil Port we transported crude oil from West Africa and the Persian Gulf to LOOP by VLCC and then the oil was then piped on to the mainland US for refining. This was my first experience of the US Coast Guard and US Pilotage, it was before 9-11 so the atmosphere of security was controlled but not as tough as it is for sailors visiting the US today. But back then you could still get ashore if you wanted to. We arranged for the agent to buy us Levi’s and other American goods, not that we were living in the Soviet Union or anything but because they were so cheap.
Anyway one of the Able Seaman was one Jesus Rey Fernandez from Cebu in the Phillipines, Jesus (which was pronounced Hay-soos by the Filipino sailors and Jees-us by the officers probably because of the novelty and Jay-zuz by me because I couldn’t resist) was an old sea dog with a woman and child in every port the ship managed to get to, he looked about 90 but was probably more in the region of 60, he nearly starved to death one trip when he managed to spit out his false teeth into the Suez Canal, he was only gobbing over the side but the teeth went sailing in with whatever he was spitting out, he stood at the rail for ages his mouth half open and shiny gums silently gnashing in disbelief, the cook didn’t like him as it was and he had to suck down all his food until a reserve set of teeth arrived.
We were sailing from LOOP and we got instructions to take bunkers (thats fuel for the land lubbers) at Pilot Town on the Mississippi, so we headed for the entrance and took on board our river pilot for the short passage up to Pilot Town. He arrived on the bridge out of breath and proceeded to light up a Marlboro before getting down to the usual introductions and how are you Captain and would you like a cup of coffee Pilot, after the first blast of Nicotine he calmed down ordered half ahead on the engine and a man on the wheel. The currents at the mouth of the Mississippi River are strong and can be unpredictable so a good helmsman is required, the old man wasn’t so old and probably put the wrong man on the wheel, so the ships head was a bit shaky approaching the entrance, the pilot got angry and shouted with a strong southern accent “Jesus Christ Cap’n, this is no time to put a beginner on the wheel” just then Able Seaman Jesus Rey appeared like an apparition on the bridge, the Captain said “Jesus, take the wheel!” The pilot raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, he was satisfied as long as the steering went well. We negotiated our way up to the designated spot which is little more than a bend in the river and anchored 4 shackles on the starboard and 1 on the port. The pilot made his way off after doing a professional job even if he was a bit rough around the edges himself.
Later on in the bar, the old man was giving his version of the story while sucking down our newly bought Coors beer, it was a little bit more exaggerated than reality, the pilot smoked more cigarettes, and spoke with a John Wayne accent and said “Truly this man was the son of God” when Jesus took the wheel,………not really as it happened but hardly the first time a story about Jesus got exaggerated……