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By Charles Summers
It was 6:30 a.m. as Foss Maritime skipper Donald Butcher and crewman Cliff Moffett got the tug Americaunderway and headed down the Willamette River with two oil barges. They had a delivery for the bulk carrier Emeraldat anchor in the Columbia River off Vancouver and stopped briefly at Portland's Terminal 6 to pickup tankerman John Munson.
With barges secured alongside the ship, Munson climbed aboard to meet with the chief engineer, complete the preliminary paperwork, and make sure the Philippine crew understood all the safety precautions. Back on the 240' x 50' black oil barge BMC 3,he fired up the hydraulic boom and lifted a 4" hose from the neighboring 120' x 42' lube/diesel barge BMC 4up to the ship's main deck, where crewmembers made the filler connection. At the chief engineer's signal, Munson began pumping diesel for use in the ship's auxiliary equipment.
When the ordered 285 barrels had been delivered, Munson returned the disconnected hose to BMC 4and swung the boom back over to pick up a 6" black oil hose from the deck of BMC 3.Again the ship's crew eased the heavy fuel line over the rail, made the connection, and gave the go-ahead to begin the flow into the ship's bunkers. After pumping 2,440 barrels of IF180 bunker fuel, Munson went aboard the ship again to complete final paperwork, then returned to the barges as Butcher got the Americaunderway and headed back up the Willamette.
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