Topic starter
09/01/2015 8:08 pm
Our good friend and fellow poster, Capt. Jim Blum has retired. We all know of his service on steamboats, however some of us have dealt with him as the head honcho at the U. S. Coast Guard Regional exam center in St. Louis. He was one of the best. Twenty-five + for Uncle Sam. He was of course a civilian employee, a riverman who could understand the problems of working rivermen. Probably a blue suiter will replace him and the REC will suffer.
09/01/2015 8:49 pm
*Congrats! Capt. Jim Blume on retiring*
Steamboating colleagues:
Thanks to Capt. Bill Judd for posting on Capt. Jim Blum's retirement. Well earned I am sure. Now, Jim, you can look forward to all of those little 'Honey do' notes you'll see in and around the house. I hope you follow up with long anticipated research and writing on steamboats, the river--or whatever catches your fancy. No doubt you'll soon be receiving invitations to "volunteer" for one organization or the other. ENJOY! Cheers!
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
10/01/2015 9:27 pm
This reminds me of when I sat for five days in the Pittsburgh MSO sitting for my Mate license. There was a Boy Wonder straight out of CG academy at Groton who administered my test. He gave me an oral question: What signal shall be given when two vessels are approaching a drawbridge at the same time?
I said "It depends"
He said "Depends on what?'
I said "Depends on which one was downbound."
He said "Doesn't matter."
I said "Sure does, the downbound boat has the right of way."
There was an older civilian, probably like Jim Blum, sitting at an adjacent desk, who could not help hearing.
I said "Ask that gentleman."
He did and the civilian gave a very slight nod of his head, with a smile.
I then answered one blast of the whistle to open the drawbridge.
When I had passed the test and he was writing up the license, he asked me if I had ever worked on a steamboat. I had worked on UBL's NAVIGATOR and MARINER and there weren't many boats having more gross tonnage than those, so I was getting All Gross Tons, Motor, on my license.
I told the CG dude that I had walked on the DELTA QUEEN about a half dozen times. I had been working on the river about six years by then and had picked up West Virginia Hoopie dialect, West Virginia Hillbilly, Arkansas Red Neck and considerable Cajun. He probably had not heard such lingo and apparently thought I had said worked instead of walked and he wrote the license as Mate, Upon Rivers, All Gross Tons, Steam and Motor. I didn't say a word.
11/01/2015 4:50 pm
Jim...
My first issue was in St Louis and was signed by Jim as wells as the following 5 or 6th issue. Like most pilots I hung all my past licenses on my "man cave" wall for all to marvel at ( mostly just the dog, but he appears interested ). My last issue ( 7th or 8th, lost track ) was the new fangled "sissified" itty bitty passport sized booklet signed by someone who has not likely seen a towboat and my first thought was how in the heck could I hang this thing on the wall of fame?!? Shoot...a thumbtack will cover up 50% of the license! Needless to say I am not a fan of the new licenses. I did read somewhere that if I absolutely had to have "a traditional license suitable for framing" I would have to pay extra...what is the world coming to?!? After I moved to Kentucky it was mentioned that I should renew my license at Memphis...nothing against those folks but I always thought the St. Louis REC brought me good luck. Jim, all the very best...your John Hancock will proudly be displayed in the man-cave for many years to come. Luke
11/01/2015 7:03 pm
Long, 2 Shorts, Ditto
So the question is: Do licensed persons no longer have to post their licenses on a wall where all can see them? I just got my inky dinky license, but that thought didn't occur to me since my boat has no walls. My husband and I both had to renew our licenses recently and I sincerely don't think we had a prayer without Jim's help. Lots of issues, but he kept us on track. If you are 60+, that is enough for the CG to look askance, in and of itself, but that wasn't all. So, thanks again Jim, and we hope you can relax and take it easy, and we have a lot of excursion railroads in Colorado.