⛴️ FIELD GUIDE 51: Tuggin’ along

Chris is a lot of things all at once. He’s a great friend, a twin, a perfect Mexican lunch partner, a smooooth boat captain for those sunset cruises in the summertime, and he’s certainly one of the most successful humans in my circle. He’d never admit to such things, but it’s true.

Chris is a tug boat engineer for a company in Savannah, Ga. Where he is working on a tug bringing those monstrous cargo ships into the port. It’s a job that is invaluable to our country, and many others as well.

This week, I hope Chris can inspire us to realize the work we do, no matter how small it seems, is crucial and valuable. Give yourself the credit you deserve.

-Skyler

Name

Christopher Taylor

Occupation

Engineer for Moran Towing

Habitat

Savannah, GA

Soundtrack

(Spotify)

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Hi! I’m Chris Taylor.

I was born and raised on Wilmington Island. It’s one of the many border islands between Savannah and Tybee. It was the perfect place for me and my brothers to grow up.

You could find us doing anything from riding bikes, playing cops and robbers or acting like stranded pirates searching the island for a lost treasure.

One Saturday morning, we found the motherlode. We found 5 big gold nuggets in our front yard! Man, we were rich! Our dad took them and put them in a box for safe keeping.

It wasn’t until years later, we found out that he went out the night before and painted and planted those rocks there for us to find. Turns out that a few rocks painted gold paved the way for a very interesting life that I wouldn’t dare to change. It took me down the path I’ve never been scared to explore to see what’s out there for me.

For a kid with an imagination full of adventure like mine, school wasn’t always the best place for me. All I wanted to do was be outside running around. There were a few cases when I wasn’t the ideal student and my parents had to get involved. I learned fast that if I sat in class and did what I was told, once school was over, I could be outside running free again. I kept that mindset all the way to high school. Just go to class and it will be over soon…

Until I realized that the best time for fishing was first period. I’m not going to say I made it a habit…but I had been known to show up to school late with a few fish in the cooler. I found out that being out on the water, looking for something to take my bait, interested me way more than sitting in a building full of people. This realization is what pulled me to my next step to finding where I am today.

One day, like most people, I knew that I would need to find a job. I knew it would have to be something on the water or I wasn’t going to like it. But still being in school there wasn’t much to choose from. Until I found that I could work at a marina. On the water moving boats around all day? Sign me up.

I started working at Hogan’s Marina here on the island. I learned so much about hard work and leadership. Working with the customers was also a very big part of the job. You get to know each one and it certainly didn’t take long to remember the ones that tipped well.

One of those customers would end up leading me right down my next path. As it would be, he was also a good friend of my father. Fortunately for me, he had been around me for years, knew my parents well, and always seemed like a nice person, but there was just something about him that would make me wonder what his story was.

His name was Captain Mike. He had white hair with a long white beard, gold chains, gold watch and, gold bracelets. He even had a gold earring. One day it hit me; this man has to be a pirate. He was always around, his kids have all the best toys, and he just had that “salty” look. I decided once I finished school I was going to go be a pirate like Captain Mike.

Unfortunately, you can’t really find work as a pirate around Savannah, and as it turns out, Captain Mike wasn’t a real pirate. He was a tugboat captain.

The tugboats here help bring the ships into the Savannah River and make sure they make a safe trip to and from the ports through the narrow channel. It turns out that it is a very important part of the port’s operations and for these ship’s journeys. Once I found out there was a job that you can work, sleep, eat, and live on the water — and get paid for it— it was a no brainer. There was my career.

Now, I’m 38 years old and I’ve been on the tugs for 19 years as an engineer. It’s my job the make sure that everything is always working. From the small stuff like lights, to the big things like the engines.

If a ship calls on us for help this boat has to be ready at a moment’s notice. This job can be long hours, stressful days, and it can definitely get dirty. But it comes with the best views and the just about the best schedule you can find. We work 7 days on and then 7 days off. So you don’t miss out on too much of your home life.

For those 7 days we are on the boat anything can happen. We can be helping ships here in Savannah or we could be called to help in another port. I’ve even been called on to help with a ship that rolled over on its side in Brunswick, Georgia. There’s always something new thrown in with the day to day stuff around here. But it’s never boring.

But for me, the best part is to look back over my life and see what has come from those 5 rocks that my dad painted gold.