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ATLANTIC TOWING


After circling Saint Helena Island for 21 days, a relief vessel brought clean fuel so that the Irving Miami could sail to Durban, South Africa.


FROM THE SEA


A common thread shared by all Mariner’s is their unique life experiences while at sea. Being a mariner not only affords the chance to see the world, but it also an opportunity for seafarers to acquire and experience a unique life that is uncommon to most.


Robert Gallant, Mate with the Atlantic Cedar, began working with Atlantic Towing when he was 19. His uncle, Glen Llewellyn, first hired Robert as a deckhand for the Irving Maple in 1980.


A native to Summerside, Prince Edward Island, at that time, Robert had only left the Island a handful of times. When he accepted the role, he didn’t realize the shear vastness of the world and its seas that he was about to explore, and the stories he would collect along the way.


In 1992, at 31, Robert was asked to be a Second Mate on a tow that had the Irving Miami, along with nine other seafarers on a tandem tow from Norfolk, Virginia to Alang, India. Their mission was to pick up two retired US war ships that had been decommissioned in the 70’s, and transport them to the Alang shipyard for scrap. The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the globe and is considered the world’s largest ship graveyard.


STORIES A Journey to the Scrap Yard


The tow was an ambitious one, and was expected to take four months return. In the end, it took 6.5 months to reach Alang, and the crew onboard flew home as relief crew flew in to return the Miami to its original port.


One of the many delays of the voyage was discovering that the fuel they had stored on one of the war ships had become contaminated. Upon learning that they were unable to complete the tow with the gas they had, the crew and the Miami circled St. Helena for three weeks while they waited for fresh fuel.


It was then that the crew realized that their trip would be met with significant delays. To occupy their time, they watched VHS tapes, played cards, and used the gym to keep themselves from going stir crazy. On rare occasion, they phoned home via ship-to-shore, but at that time, these calls were expensive and mostly reserved for emergencies.


“You would think that a delay such as that one would be impossible to bear,” says Gallant, from his home in Summerside. “But any seaman can tell you that when you are on a ship, the crew is your family, and you need to make it work, despite any challenge. A positive morale is crucial on any sail, but especially on the long hauls, like that one.”


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