Page 112 - RedWhiteFleet_interiors_Sep10

CAPTAIN’S LOG
At the end of every day on the water, each
themselves are always safe. In 1988, the Harbor Princess had captain has the responsibility of recording
a close call while docked at Pier 43½. At 5 a.m. one stormy all the activity of their vessel for that day
in the captain’s log. The result is not only
morning, Captain Jim Reed, who was hired by the Fleet in an important documentation of the Fleet’s
1975, received a frantic call to come down to the docks. While operations, but a remarkable snapshot of
the ferries are usually secured to the docks with ten lines, the all the day-to-day history of the Red and
Harbor Princess was rocking so hard in the wind and waves White Fleet going back decades, told from
the perspective of the pilots actually on
that all but one had come untied. She was taking on water the boats. In it, you will find everything
and had detached her rubber knee that protected her from from accounts of the Fleet’s standard
crashing into the docks. tours and smoothest seas to its most
“I’ve never seen a mass of metal move that violently,” daring rescues and closest calls. Records
said Captain Reed. He and a maintenance employee, Jim of boat condition, fuel usage, dealings
with other operators around the Bay, and
Adams, managed to get aboard the thrashing vessel. Without even guest interactions onboard are just
enough time to warm up the engines, one failed before they a few of the entries that may be record-
had steered the ship safely away from the dock. The situation ed in the captain’s log. Even doodles
could quickly have become a catastrophe, as the submarine and printed pictures sometimes find
their way into the log, illuminating this
Pampanito was parked within a few feet. “I knew that if we ran remarkable text that has preserved the
into the submarine we would probably both sink right there everyday details of operating the Red
at the dock, so I started blowing the whistle as hard as I could and White Fleet through the years.
to let everyone know we were in trouble,” recalled Captain
Reed. A port engineer, Bill Elliot, heard the whistle and came
running, diving in through a broken window to board the ship.
In the nick of time, the men managed to restart the engine,
and Captain Reed was able to steer the ship away from the
docks. Although the winds were blowing 80–90 knots (92–103
mph)—hurricane force—he had no choice but to continue
sailing the vessel to Oakland. Fortunately, they all made it
across the Bay safely, and the Harbor Princess underwent six
months of repairs to recover from her windy ordeal.
Situations like these show the commitment and round-
the-clock dedication of the Red and White Fleet’s captains and
employees, who put their own lives at risk in service to the ABOVE: Entries in the captain’s log, from decades-old (bottom row) to

the current style (top left). These entries can be as much like a scrapbook as
a status report, including illustrations and diagrams as well as anecdotes.
112 • Red and White Fleet Evolution • 113