I was looking at my career trophies and came across my U-boat skipper's hat. Yup a genuine (reproduction) German U-boat skipper's cap.
I suppose now you are expecting that I singlehandedly boarded a U-boat and captured. I will admit that I have been a swashbuckler at times but not in this case.
I was in New York Harbor on a 368 foot oil barge I was running at the time. We were being pushed by a company tug headed off with a load of (most likely) jet headed for Boston to full the tanks feeding Logan.
A foreign flagged ship was coming our way and the usual bridge to bridge passing arrangements were being made between the tug and the ship. The tug had suggested a basic, simple 1 whistle (port to port) pass.
The ship skipper must have not been taking the advice of the pilot they had on board because he arrogantly demanded a 2 whistle (starboard to starboard) pass. while we could safely do this it simply made no sense. The officer was simply being difficult.
It's also a risky proposition. Scratch so much as a chip of paint if you ignore advice from a pilot and it's completely on you. While pilots are not God, the captain is. The pilot is the captain's consigliere. Ignore him at your peril.
The passing arrangements were being made on Channel 13, the bridge to bridge channel.
I had been listening and I had heard it and chimed in. The conversation sounded like this
"Tug Sally Ann, Calypso Runner."
"Calypso Runner."
"How about one whistle?"
"Two vistles, Sally Ann."
"Ohhhh kayyy. Two whistles." The tug sounded annoyed but too tired to argue. The whole thing smelled. I knew the pilot would have advised the skipper of Calypso Runner that a one whistle pass was the most convenient for both parties. The captain was just being obstinate or something. This is where I jumped in. I was sitting next to the radio.
"Tug Sally Ann, Untersee 235." I threw out to the tug.
Of course he recognized my voice and in a mildly curious tone answered "Untersee 235, Sally Ann."
"Outer doors open, tubes flooded." I said.
"Copy" he replied.
A second later the Calypso Runner was heard from again. "Sally Ann, Calypso Runner. We can pass on one whistle."
"Sally Ann, one whistle. Thank you."
This wasn't the end of it. Coast Guard Traffic in the Battery monitors the channel.
"Coast Guard Traffic, Untersee 235."
"Untersee 235, I answered.
Untersee 235 you are not showing up on radar. where are you?" Traffic asked.
'Traffic, vee Untersee boot," I replied.
There was a pause. Traffic came back and in a mildly amused tone of voice replied, "Untersee 235, be advised we are passing responsibility for you to the United States Navy. Out."
Another company tug had heard the exchange and recognized my voice because inside of fifteen seconds I got a call asking me what the conversation was all about. I asked the caller if he had pictures.
He said he didn't. So my reply was simply "To quote Richard Nixon, deny it even if they have pictures."
Several minutes later after we had gotten past Calypso Runner the tug called and the mate thanked me for helping him out.
It must have tickled the tug crew's funnybone because they scraped up a few bucks and bought me the hat. I was called Kapitan Piccolo for a few months after.
The hat fit pretty good and later on I finally figured out why my (rarely worn) baseball cap disappeared. They wanted my hat size.
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