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The boat finally appears out of the mist. “A perfect seawater gray,” Tillion says, com-
menting on the boat's paint job. To Vermette he says, “Do you have a zero visibility
strategy for coming in?”
Engborg says, “Hand steering, two point two miles from destination, sixteen knots,
ready to go to maneuvering speed. Pilot has the conn.”
“Pilot has the conn,” the mate says.
At 1242 Vermette makes the securite announcement. The
Horizon Anchorage
is going
fifteen knots through a very narrow channel marked by a set of bouys from which can be
clearly heard a bell clanging.
At 1250, on approach to the dock, Vermette says, “Drop her down to full ahead man-
euvering.” At 1302 the tug
Kodiak King
is made fast to the side and reports over the radio,
“Okay, King's ready to work.”
At 1324, Vermettes stops the engine, maneuvering on bow thrusters and tug. “Dead
slow ahead.” “Slow ahead.” “Hard right.”
Vermette is bringing the ship into the dock slowly, Tillion thinks too slowly. Tillion
takes command and uses the tug and the thrusters to pirouette the
Horizon Kodiak
on her
keel and muscle her starboard side into the dock. Later, Tillion says, “There was never any
doubt of the outcome, but there were people waiting on the dock to go to work and we
were already late. Again, this is a matter of experience.”
Vermette is rueful but accepts without complaint that he won't be able to check off the
docking on his training sheet. His only anxiety is that this is a slow time of year for mari-
time traffic in
SWAPA
's service area, and he doesn't know when he'll get his next chance.
Vermette is thirty-eight, originally from Massachusetts, and graduated from Massachu-
setts Maritime in 1990. He earned his master's license at age thirty-two, and worked for
Exxon/Sea River maritime for 16 years as chief mate. By April he will have been three
years in the
SWAPA
training program, ready to become a deputy pilot on ships that will in-
crease in tonnage every year as his experience grows.
July 18, Prince William Sound
The
Polar Discovery
is hull down on the horizon of Prince William Sound, first only
the white house and the blue bow visible against a gray sky and calm seas. As the pilot
