"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
..

Capt. JG wrote:
Yeah... :-) All I recall is that is was a few years
ago... the engine quit
or whatever.. ended up hitting the dock in front of a
hotel (?) and parked
it pretty well. He was called a hero.

Ok yeah I know what you are talking about, he did indeed
get on the
horn and warned local traffic control, that in turn
notified the harbor
front allowing just enough time to warn the people on the
docks. he
lost steerage and the tug had not meet him yet, they were
another 1/4
mi down the water front waiting to berth him.

Since that happened N.O. has installed a alarm system the
USCG traffic
group N.O. can set off once any ship or barge leaves the
traffic lanes
near the harbor front without permission.

Once you loose steerage and loose command there is not
much you can do
but watch and wait, and scream. Once on the ICW pushing a
fuel flat
with 225,000 gallons of diesel I blew a hose on the
steering and the
tow made a hard stbd turn and hit the bank hard. Right
before it
happened I was about to meet another big load coming from
the other
way, had the other hose blown I would have turned to port
right in
front of him and that would have been one major mess.


Didn't you have an emergency hand tiller?

Scotty