Monkeys? Bucks? Dog my cats there are animals all over the dredge! We wrote a blog post about Nautical Terminology that featured the creatures found in tugboat lingo. If you find yourself aboard a Pacific Dredge and Construction project you might find an entire bestiary there.
From out at sea to pier side, you might see some of them attending or leading safety meetings.
If the PDC Crane Barge is driving piles, for example, the men and women who work at pile driving are known as Pile Bucks. The pile buck working closest to the hammer is the Pile Monkey. A particularly nimble pile buck is sometimes called a Pile Rabbit.
If the pile gets bent in being driven it is called a Dog-Leg Pile. Cussing may ensue, but cusswords themselves rarely make it straight.
A number of piles driven close together in a bundle are called a Dolphin. They can be held together by wire or by Fish Plates.
Should the PDC project entail dredging, then other animal terms are welcome aboard. The closing scoop that collects the dredge spoils from the channel? A Clam, of course.
The floating fenders that keep the scow from banging into the dredge can be a Camel.
To work the anchor wires of the dredge or the spuds, the winch will have a welcome Dog on it. You set the dog when you want it to stay put.
Lines and wires can also be surged by the winch Cat Head. Don’t get your fingers in the working line because that kitty bites.
Last, of course, the move popular creatures found aboard the tugs and at the Pacific Maritime yards are the ones like these. They aren’t paid hands, but we can’t think of work without them.
