I am a retired tugboat company owner/captain who cannot get the James River out of my system, I began going on tugs with my dad when I was just four years old and that was more than 7 decades ago.
Throughout those years I was blessed to meet and befriend people from many seafaring nations and from all walks of life. Sometimes I wondered how some ships ever made it across oceans to come and load cargoes. The Captain's entire family would be living aboard with chickens and goats and dogs and dried fish hanging from many places on the outer decks. At other times the officers would be in full dress and sail spotless ships into the harbor.
Many of my personal stories can be found in Bohemian Skipper (Amazon), it is a collection of river stories and yet to be published, Chosen River l and ll. It is a book told from the heart by men who seldom saw their loved ones, or who had escaped their homelands and probable death for a better life, as was the case of a wonderful skipper who told of the atrocities committed by Mao Tse-Tung after the end of WWII.
During those years, I raised a family, built some homes/restaurants, earned a degree from Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary, with continued ed at Virginia Commonwealth University and University of North Florida.
In 1987, I was appointed by Governor Gerald Balliles as the Maritime Commander for Central Virginia in the Virginia State Guard with the rank of Lt Colonel.
I am currently married to my lovely wife, Ruth Christiane Rawlings, a Rocky Mountain girl turned Queen of the James who at age 60 received a Master of Teaching degree. Ruth has enjoyed a colorful background that spans from raising kids as a single mom to skydiving with the Golden Knights, to acting as the lead in many plays and musicals such as South Pacific, Zorba, Scrooge, Wait Until Dark, she also starred in Brigadoon and Pajama Game. And later, she sang alto with the Richmond Symphony Chorus for seven years.-