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This is a picture showing cable laying in operation. This shot is of the forward most of two barges. We are proceeding at .5 knots through a channel cut for us by the dredge cranes in the background.

This is my favorite shot. I was deeply involved in the concept, acquisition, design, construction and operation of two units known as a Capra. I think it is Italian for goat. "Beats me?" We also call them lifting arms. The Capra act like a crane swinging left and right, booming up and down and extending in and out. Meanwhile, the brown round structure, we call The Tub, rotates. As we advance, we pay out cable....or we can recover cable.

This is a side view of the forward of two barges.

This pic shows the entire flotilla. Look carefully, and you can see the trencher in roughly 10 feet of water. We are burying two 8" power cables and one fiber optic cable 3 miles across Galveston Bay in Texas.

Our 1200 Hp jet pump at work. Mounted on four Flexifloats. You can see the channel cut for us by Continental Dredging appearing as a mud bank. Look real close and you can see Ace Engineer, Jerome Ashton looking after our pride and joy. The Jet pump supplies water to the trencher and that is how it cuts it's way through the sea floor.

Here comes the first cable. It is supported by floating bags. Very diver intensive.

Once the cables are ashore, the trencher is pulled by a beach winch. The pump follows the trencher. Jerome is all by himself. I took this shot from a crane....I'm using the crane to make minor adjustments to it's course.

Almost home! Joe Gannon provides eyes and ears and a radio to the winch operator, Cliff center. What the photo does not show is the sound. Water pressure is creating noise and blowing everything out of the way. When the trencher comes ashore, it is time to runs as it sprays rocks and mud everywhere. Always the funniest part of the job! :-)

Another type of trencher. This is a deep water trencher we built for the waters of Puget Sound. Working for Ledcor, we installed fiber optic cable from Canada to Seattle.

No website would be complete without a picture of Rick Cook. Otherwise known as "Marblehead". A NW logger by trade....he is a can do guy with a true story for all occasions!

Here is our pump under construction in the shop.

Our Jet pump roars to life. Unfortunately, we flooded our shop, overloaded the storm drain and pushed a scrap steel bin placed to stop the flow of water all the way across the yard. Bryan Jacobson was impressed! LOL!!

Here is the gang. Brian Johnson and Me in the goofy black hat. Bud Hey, Joe Gannon, Mark Brennan, Ernie Rains, Jerome Ashton, Junk Yard Dog, Bob Eno, Joe Paningsoro...
Cliff Center and Pete Wagner.

Rick Cook pretending he is not cold. This is life in the Straits of Juan De Fuca during a cold snap. Yep! That is frozen sea water,

 I am a Live Steam Buff. I got this gem for free just before it was tossed in the dumpster!

I rebuilt it into this running museum piece. Man that was fun!

My 10 Hp boiler in the background making steam and running all my contraptions.

Here is a tiny steam engine I built. Ran on three pounds of steam. Fun!

I was into foundry work. We designed some rollers for our cable operation and made 'em at Ballard Brass and Foundry.

We were laying 26 miles of power cable from Nantucket Island to Cape Cod. The forecast was for winds to 40. It blew 96 Knots...a hurricane! I took this photo from my tug, The Manatee. The bow of the barge broke, the spud pockets cracked and the office space was taking on water. Many souls hung in the balance.

From the barge to my tug....Seldom is the worst of it ever captured on film....That was a nasty day....Thanksgiving, I think.

My first trip to Alaska in 1983. The Tug Ocean Mariner in Hoonah Alaska. We towed refrigerated supplies and other goods to Southeast Alaska. A major winter storm pestered us the whole time. Really, this was a trip from hell. 80 MPH winds, 7 degree weather and no sleep. We had several opportunities not to come back.

Here is a picture of my tug, the San Francisco, holding a 1500' section of the new Hood Canal Bridge in place while it is connected. The old bridge sank in a storm in 1979. The tug was owned by Western Towboat...the best towing company around...IMHO!

Here is another tug I operated. The tug Vancouver towing the cement barge Peter S. Hass up the Duwamish river to Kiaser cement. This 300' barge is empty now but when loaded with 12,000 tons of cement powder...look out! :-) We routinely dragged it up and down the river with two single screw tugs.

One of my first tow jobs. Passing through the Fremont Bridge in Lake Union, Seattle. Here we are towing a WW2 Knot ship out to a Japanese tug towing it to a ship breaker in Tiawan.

From the wheelhouse of my favorite tug, the tug Grizzly, is a photo of the USN Blueback. It was moored in Bangor. We towed it up to Canada where the Navy shot rubber torpedos at it for test purposes. We towed it back to Bangor. Now it is part of OMSI, a museum in Oregon on the Willamette River.

I like the mountains. My dog Shelby and I at Rainy Pass on Highway 20 in May.

Here is our camp spot in the mountains. We call it The Rockpile. The deck is nice. At night we hear coyotes, deer and varmints. When the wind doesn't blow, it is so quiet you can hear the blood pumping through your veins. Scary!

Our home made anchor boat.