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Learn All About Michael Groover’s Job as a Harbor Pilot - Learn about Michael's Savannah harbor pilot job, including how to become a harbor pilot and what does a harbor pilot do!
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0:00
- Michael, you and I were laughin' one day.
0:04
(Paula giggles)
0:06
'Cause people come up and say different things to ya
0:08
and it was so funny.
0:09
You and I will look at each other and just laugh, chuckle.
0:13
- They really do.
0:14
Somebody's asked me if I, one lady if I,
0:18
if I catch Alaska's king crab.
0:23
(Paula laughs) I said, "Well, no."
0:26
I work on a boat and they catch Alaska king crab
0:30
in Alaska. - In Alaska.
0:32
(laughing)
0:32
- I know it and I'll hear men
0:35
come up to ya. - But they think I'm a
0:36
- river boat captain or.
0:37
- Oh no, they think you're a shrimper.
0:39
- Shrimper.
0:40
You know how that happened?
0:41
- How?
0:42
- One time, this was a few years back.
0:46
My buddy, Mike Sullivan, ran the Flying Cloud,
0:49
which was a shrimp boat.
0:51
And he docked right down the creek here.
0:53
- Yep.
0:54
- And he was going by and you brought him a lunch
0:58
and threw him a lunch and you said, "There's Michael."
1:01
And everybody thinks Michael is me.
1:04
(Paula laughs)
1:07
- So, that's how it happened.
1:08
- So, that's how the shrimp boat thing happened.
1:09
- But I get so tickled every time I hear some man
1:13
holler at ya, "How's your shrimp go,
1:15
how's your shrimpin' goin'?"
1:17
- Say catching any shrimp? - Catch any shrimp?
1:18
- I said, "Yes, I have." - yeah.
1:19
(Paula laughs)
1:22
- He does like to shrimp and crab,
1:24
but it's just for his use only.
1:27
- Yeah.
1:29
- When you were young,
1:32
didn't you tell me something about a hole,
1:34
a hole out there somewhere?
1:36
- Oh yeah, that's a, you know,
1:37
they got where you could tape the nets
1:39
and you could throw your cast net in these deep holes.
1:43
- Uh huh.
1:44
- And the shrimp go into the deep holes
1:45
when it gets cold.
1:47
- Uh huh.
1:48
- And Nick and I got hooked on it.
1:49
It was just--
1:50
- Y'all found ya honey hole.
1:51
- It was a typical, - Right?
1:54
- typically, when you cast, you catch crabs
1:58
and cat fish and all kinda trash.
2:00
- Uh huh.
2:01
- So it's really a mess.
2:03
But the deep holes is just shrimp.
2:06
So--
2:07
- Where was that hole?
2:09
- Uh, I can't tell ya.
2:10
(Paula laughs)
2:12
Really. - He'd have to kill me.
2:12
- Really, believe it or not,
2:13
it was, it was not a secret because
2:16
all you had to do was look for the boats.
2:17
We congregated.
2:18
- Uh huh.
2:20
So y'all weren't the only ones
2:21
that found the honey hole. - Oh, no.
2:23
- There was several of us that,
2:25
I can remember one Christmas,
2:27
Nick and I, one Christmas, I said,
2:31
"I get to go casting."
2:33
So, I took off before everybody woke up
2:36
and looked and there was already a boat there.
2:37
I said, "God there's already a boat there.
2:39
I can't believe there's already a boat
2:41
this early." - Hey, little girl.
2:42
- And turned out to be Nick.
2:44
(Paula laughs)
2:45
And we had-- - It was your brother.
2:47
- God, we had a freezer full of shrimp.
2:49
- Oh my gosh.
2:50
- We just, it was addictive to
2:52
catch that many shrimp.
2:54
- Yeah.
2:55
- It was fun. - Yeah.
2:56
- Yeah, it's like going to a casino
2:58
and playing those machines.
2:59
- Yeah.
3:00
- Whatcha gon' get when ya throw in that,
3:02
that money. - That's right.
3:04
- Unpredictable.
3:05
- Unpredictable, yes.
3:07
- That's right.
3:08
- So when, typically, is shrimp season?
3:10
- Well, they have a,
3:14
I think they call em May prawns, they come out.
3:16
The brown shrimp come out first.
3:18
- Uh huh.
3:21
- That has the roe in em and then the white shrimp.
3:23
- Uh huh.
3:25
- But I think in May, usually when they,
3:29
whey they start.
3:30
- Okay, so we gon' go shrimpin' in May?
3:32
- Sure.
3:34
- You promise?
3:35
- Might have to get,
3:36
might have to get Henry to throw the net.
3:39
(Paula laughs)
3:40
- He can do it.
3:41
- Yeah.
3:41
- Henry can throw it.
3:43
All right, now how bout crabbin'?
3:45
When is crabbin' season 'cause it's,
3:48
I can't keep up with it.
3:50
- It's about the same time as crab and fish,
3:55
typically wanna be in the water at the same time
3:59
you'd wanna be in the water.
4:00
- Mmkay.
4:01
- So it's, when it's too cold, they offshore.
4:04
- Uh huh, uh huh.
4:06
Well, when I have leftovers,
4:11
I ask Michael, I'll give him the pot of leftovers
4:13
and I'll say, "Would you go feed our pet crabs, please?"
4:17
So, he throws it, ya know, right down there
4:20
and I'm hoping that I am making some crabs fat
4:25
and not otters.
4:26
- I hope so, yeah.
4:27
Well, good chance you're making otters fat too.
4:30
(Paula laughs)
4:31
They're out there.
4:33
- Well, I know Henry and Sullivan,
4:37
they would rather be out there fishin' and castin'
4:40
and eat when they're hungry.
4:42
- I know it.
4:43
And they like to eat. - Those two.
4:44
- Yeah, and they both like to eat.
4:46
(Michael laughs)
4:48
But they just adore it.
4:50
- Yeah.
4:51
But it's a, it's a great life.
4:54
I was raised right nextdoor.
4:56
And Hank and I and Nick explored every creek around here,
5:03
every one of em. - Yeah.
5:06
- And we were, we were pretty young
5:07
when we got started.
5:09
We had our own boat but,
5:10
it wasn't near as crowded.
5:12
- Now, tell everybody how old y'all were
5:14
when you got your own boat.
5:16
This blows my mind. - I think.
5:18
- I think and I may be wrong,
5:20
but I think Hank and I, Hank was 10 and I was eight,
5:24
and I think Nick was six.
5:29
And Nick and I ended up, a career on the water.
5:33
- Yes.
5:34
- And little did we know, we were jocking,
5:39
we were learning at six and eight years old.
5:42
- Uh huh.
5:43
I can not imagine.
5:46
Michael's mother allowed her boys to get in that boat
5:53
and go anywhere they wanted to go.
5:55
There was only one rule.
5:57
Have to be back before dark.
5:58
- I just heard a porpoise.
6:00
- You did?
6:01
- A dolphin, yeah.
6:03
- Oh, there he is!
6:04
Look, did you see him, Eddie?
6:07
Oh, I love em.
6:09
He'll be on the other side of the dock
6:11
when he comes back up.
6:15
So, um...
6:18
Now that we know that you're not a shrimper,
6:20
not a crabber y'all,
6:23
tell everybody exactly what you do.
6:26
'Cause you and Nick were jockeying on the water
6:30
but he chose to go one way and you chose to go the other.
6:33
- Right.
6:35
- Nick chose to be--
6:38
- Nick was, Nick was
6:40
a river pilot. - River pilot.
6:41
- Or a bar pilot.
6:42
And they board the ship offshore.
6:44
- Uh huh.
6:45
- And bring the ship up the river.
6:49
- Uh huh.
6:50
All right, now I want to know what you do.
6:53
- I'm a docking pilot or a harbor pilot.
6:56
And the river pilot, like Nick,
6:59
would bring the ship up the river.
7:01
Then, I would board the ship and relieve him
7:05
and do what, basically what they do,
7:08
plus I would control the tug boats by radio.
7:16
And tell them what to do in order to turn the ship around
7:19
and dock it.
7:21
So, I'm like the valet parking.
7:23
- All right, now how,
7:24
how do you - For ships.
7:25
- get on that ship?
7:27
- Well, the tugboat goes alongside
7:29
and there's a pilot.
7:32
- So, you get on the tugboat.
7:33
- I get on the tugboat.
7:35
The tugboat goes alongside.
7:36
My son, Anthony, is a tugboat captain.
7:39
- Uh huh.
7:40
- And he goes alongside and you climb up
7:42
a pilot ladder or Jacob's ladder.
7:45
- A rope, y'all. - Which is rope ladder.
7:46
- It's a rope ladder
7:48
that hangs off of that ship that I don't,
7:51
I can't tell ya how many stories it is.
7:53
And I've got, I've got a video of him climbing
7:58
before he had his knee replaced.
8:01
I have, somebody sent me a video
8:04
of Michael going up that rope ladder
8:07
with a bad knee.
8:10
- It's not near as bad inshore as it is offshore.
8:14
And occasionally, we have to go offshore,
8:16
like if it was a LNG ship or--
8:18
- What do you, just hang on for dear life?
8:20
- Something's wrong with the ship or something,
8:22
then the harbor pilot goes all the way out
8:25
and the two pilots bring the ship in.
8:27
- Uh huh.
8:28
- Mainly because they have a tug escort.
8:30
- Uh huh.
8:32
- But offshore, the waves are going like this.
8:36
- All right, all right, like.
8:38
- So, the tugboat.
8:39
- Like when you just hit the ocean out here,
8:41
like you've taken me out there in a boat
8:44
to the ocean. - Yeah.
8:45
- Like, is it a two foot wave
8:48
versus an eight foot wave out in the ocean?
8:51
- It depends on the weather, naturally.
8:54
But they are, only if it gets 10 feet or over,
8:58
they kinda close it down.
9:00
Because it's dangerous for them to get off.
9:03
- Yeah.
9:04
- But they still do it in rough weather.
9:08
But what happens is the boat goes,
9:12
boats bouncing one way - Uh huh.
9:14
- and the ship's pretty much staying steady and so--
9:19
- You're talkin' bout the tugboat is bouncing.
9:21
- Tug boat or the pilot boat.
9:22
- Yeah.
9:23
- And then, once it gets up high,
9:24
you step on the ladder.
9:26
So, if you step on low, it could come smash ya.
9:31
So you learn how to do that when you're young.
9:33
You learn the technique when you're young.
9:34
- Yeah.
9:35
- Then once you get old and not as agile,
9:38
you still know how to do it.
9:39
- (laughs) Yeah.
9:40
- Not as quick but,
9:42
still, still got the technique down.
9:44
- Well, Nick has since retired.
9:47
- Yeah.
9:48
- And Michael loves his work so very much,
9:52
I can't even get him to carry on
9:54
a conversation about retiring.
9:58
- Ya know, there's a couple reasons for that.
10:00
- Well, tell me what they are.
10:02
Would it be money?
10:04
- Well, it's a lucrative job.
10:06
- Yeah.
10:07
- And if I asked you for cigar money,
10:08
you would probably say no.
10:10
(Paula laughs)
10:11
- I would say no.
10:12
- And occasionally, you say,
10:14
"Michael, would you like to go with me to Home Goods
10:16
or Michaels and pick out some pillows?"
10:19
And I say, (Paula laughs)
10:21
"You don't know how much I'd really like to do that,
10:25
but I'm--
10:27
- I have a pillow addiction, y'all.
10:29
- I'm workin'.
10:30
So, I can't, can't do that." (Paula laughs)
10:34
- Listen, there's one thing about Michael.
10:37
If you ask him a question,
10:39
you better make sure that no matter what the answer is,
10:44
you're good with it because he don't know
10:46
nothin' but the truth.
10:48
- Yeah, don't ask me.
10:50
If you don't wanna hear it,
10:51
don't ask me. - If you don't wanna know,
10:52
- don't ask him
10:53
'cause he will tell ya.
10:57
(laughing)
10:58
- That's what, I heard somebody say,
11:01
their wife told em, they said,
11:03
that drier is making my clothes tight.
11:09
- Uh huh.
11:09
- And he said, "You sure it's not the refrigerator?"
11:12
(laughing)
11:17
- That was what the wife said to him?
11:19
- No, that's what he said to his wife.
11:21
- Oh, oh.
11:23
(Paula laughs)
11:24
Well, I'm so glad that we were able
11:25
to sit down and have this conversation 'cause
11:29
you and I have been married now 21 years,
11:31
which is hard to believe.
11:34
It has flown by so quickly.
11:39
Hadn't it? - I know it.
11:40
- Time flies when you're havin' fun.
11:42
- It sure do.
11:43
(Paula laughs)
11:44
It sure do.
11:46
Jack, our oldest grandson told me the other day
11:51
and it was so, I don't know if this is the right word,
11:56
prophetic, what,
11:59
he said, he said, "Ganny,
12:03
the days move long
12:08
and the years move short."
12:12
I thought, now how can you be 18 years old and realize that?
12:16
- He's always been more mature than his age.
12:18
- Uh huh.
12:19
And I said, "Jack, sonny boy,
12:21
you are so right."
12:24
The years move very fast.
12:27
- Uh huh.
12:30
Gettin' back to my job,
12:32
it's a, it's of average--
12:34
- So, once you get on the ship.
12:36
- Yeah.
12:37
- You have to climb how many steps?
12:38
- Well, it depends.
12:40
A lot of the new ones have elevators.
12:43
- Yeah.
12:43
- And those can be up to 10 flights of stairs.
12:49
And if you wanna see me cry,
12:53
when I get a board and they tell me the elevator's broken.
12:56
- Uh huh and you've come home more times
12:58
than I can count and said the dadgum
13:01
elevator was broke.
13:03
- Most of the new ones have elevators, but--
13:07
- Well, seems like you must've got on all the old ones.
13:09
- Well, occasionally, the elevators are broken.
13:12
And the crew can't fix em.
13:13
It has to be a special elevator
13:17
mechanic. - Have to wait
13:18
- till they get to a port?
13:18
- Right.
13:21
- Well, 10 flights of stairs,
13:23
to walk up 10 flights of stairs after walking up
13:26
a rope ladder swinging in the breeze
13:31
bangin' against the side of that steel ship
13:35
and okay, so now you're up there.
13:37
Now what do you do?
13:39
The captain of that ship, he has to disappear, doesn't he?
13:42
- (coughs) Oh no, no.
13:43
The captain never leaves.
13:45
The captain is always in charge
13:47
and then, the river pilot is given commands
13:52
as I get up there and then, we go over the bridge management
13:56
and go over any peculiarities with the ship
14:01
or anything going that I should know.
14:05
Then, I tell him where we're going
14:06
and how many lines we're gonna put out.
14:09
And then I direct the tugboats where to
14:15
make fast to the ship.
14:18
- Mmhm.
14:18
- And then, what to do in order to turn around and dock it.
14:23
And do the same thing on the way out.
14:26
I pull it away from the dock,
14:28
get it in the channel and then,
14:30
give it to the river pilot and he takes it
14:32
the rest of the way out.
14:33
- Uh huh.
14:33
That's when they're leaving,
14:34
when you go to set sail with em.
14:37
- Right.
14:38
- Well, when I first met you, you know,
14:41
(laughs)
14:43
my dogs ran on me twice.
14:46
- And I lived in one of the condos
14:48
on the other side of that tabby wall.
14:51
And the dogs ran and I chased em
14:56
and Michael was out there propped on his fence talkin'
15:02
on the phone and oh, he scared me so bad.
15:05
The way he looked, it just scared,
15:07
he scared me to death 'cause he didn't smile
15:10
or anything, so,
15:11
I got my dogs and I got outta there
15:14
as quick as I could.
15:15
- It was like love at first sight.
15:16
- And Otis took a big ol poop
15:19
right there in his yard and I said,
15:21
"Well, he's gon' kill me
15:24
'cause my dog pooped."
15:26
And I apologized.
15:27
I said, "If you'll get me something, I'll get it up."
15:30
And he said, "No, it's, I like animals.
15:33
It's people I ain't too sure of."
15:35
I couldn't get my ass outta there quick enough, y'all.
15:38
(Paula laughs)
15:40
So, the dogs did it again two weeks later.
15:45
And so, this time, he was still on,
15:49
propped on his fence talkin' on his phone,
15:51
smokin' a cigarette.
15:53
- No, I wasn't smokin'.
15:54
- Yes, you were.
15:55
Yes, you were. - No, because--
15:57
Yes, you were. - Well, let me tell ya.
15:58
- Well, let me correct you.
15:59
- Okay, you correct me.
16:00
- 'Cause when we went on our boat ride,
16:02
which was later, you weren't smokin',
16:04
I wasn't smokin' and all of a sudden, you said,
16:09
"Would it be all right if I smoke a cigarette?"
16:11
And I--
16:12
- And you fell in love.
16:14
- I pulled mine out.
16:15
- You fell in love.
16:16
- That's the first cigarette we had on the boat.
16:18
I can remember.
16:19
- Well no, I wasn't smokin',
16:20
but you, you had a, you may have
16:22
thrown it down - No.
16:23
- when I walked up.
16:24
- Well, nope, nope.
16:25
- My memory knows it right. - You're mistaken.
16:27
- I am not mistaken.
16:28
So anyway. - Ya are.
16:31
- I said, "Well, since I got out alive that first time,
16:35
I'm just gon' ask him a few questions."
16:38
Just 'cause I was curious.
16:39
I said, "Are you married?"
16:42
He said, "No, no, I'm divorced."
16:46
I said, "Do you have any children?"
16:48
He said, "Yes, I have custody of two children,
16:52
a girl and a boy."
16:54
And I said, "Hmm,
16:57
he must be a good man."
16:59
And then, the third question I said,
17:03
"You ain't got a job, do you?"
17:06
(laughing)
17:08
And he told me what he did.
17:10
Of course, the only thing I knew is that they,
17:13
it's a very lucrative job.
17:15
What, Lou?
17:16
A very lucrative job.
17:19
And I was so impressed.
17:21
(Paula laughs)
17:22
So, that's it.
17:25
- It's a fun job too.
17:26
It's fun.
17:27
- I know, you love going to work.
17:29
- I really do.
17:30
- And that, that is such a blessing.
17:32
- And it's a job that's handed down too.
17:34
You train.
17:35
- Yes.
17:36
- We train the apprentices to take our spots.
17:38
- Yes, yes.
17:40
- And a lot of it is family.
17:42
- And we have our son-in-law, Michelle's husband who,
17:47
you took him under your wing
17:49
and he is now a harbor pilot.
17:53
- Yeah.
17:54
- And Anthony, our youngest son
17:59
is a captain on the tugboat.
18:03
So, we don't know where he'll wind up.
18:06
I don't know what he's going to do but,
18:08
this is a family thing and I've enjoyed
18:13
being a part of the river family.
18:17
- And a lot of like,
18:21
the Mishrooms, they train me and I trained your son
18:25
and his son, Anthony trained his son
18:29
on the tugboat. - Don't they call that
18:30
- nepotism or something like that?
18:31
- Well. (Paula laughs)
18:33
- It's not anymore, though, is it?
18:35
- I don't really say it's nepotism
18:37
because if I had a jewelry store,
18:39
I'd want my son to take over.
18:41
- Uh huh.
18:42
- If I was a lawyer or doctor,
18:43
my son would probably be a lawyer or doctor.
18:45
- Yeah, yeah.
18:46
- So, people call it nepotism, I think,
18:49
when it's--
18:54
- Long time ago, it was,
18:56
y'all didn't require college or anything and now,
19:00
these young men that are working to become a river pilot,
19:05
they have to have a four year degree from--
19:08
- From a maritime.
19:09
- A maritime college, yes. - College, yeah.
19:11
- So anyway, I'm proud of ya and I'm glad that,
19:14
that we took the time for you to tell everybody
19:18
that you're not fishin' today or shrimpin'.
19:22
You just parkin' ships.
19:24
(Paula laughs)
19:25
Love and best dishes, y'all, from both of us.
19:29
- Bye y'all. (Paula laughs)
19:33
Hey, y'all, it's Paula Deen.
19:35
Now, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it
19:39
and click the subscribe button as well as the notification
19:42
and bell to be alerted when I post a video.
19:46
Love and Best Dishes Y'all.
#Food & Drink
#Hobbies & Leisure