Sept: 12 | 16 | 20
Oct: 17 | 21

September 16, 2005

This article is a continuation of Article 1 which was written on Monday 9-12-05. The Sirius (Texas A&M Training Ship) owned by the US Maritime Administration and being managed by Ocean Shipholdings, Inc. for Operation Katrina Relief took arrival off the entrance to the Mississippi River at 0518 on Monday 9-12-05. By 0618, the ship was heading up the Mississippi River to its new home in New Orleans.

As we transited the river, the destruction of the hurricane was very evident. Barges over 300' were high and dry on the levies, some of them several blocks inland from the river. Supply boats, ferries, and other vessels were in fields or sunk on the sides of the river. Oil tanks were crushed like tin cans. Several homes had barges sitting on top of them.

At 1536, the first line went ashore for the Sirius at its new home in New Orleans at Nashville Avenue Wharf A. By 1636, the accommodation ladder was lowered on the dock, and shortly thereafter officials, media, and hungry longshoremen started coming aboard.

Prior to departure, our mission had changed several times from providing housing/food to firefighters and police to being a morgue ship where the deceased would be tagged and stored. Upon arrival, I met with MARAD officials and was told that our mission had been changed again. Our mission now was to provide meals and housing to the longshoremen and other port personnel in order to get the port up and running as soon as possible.

Less than one hour after the accommodation ladder was lowered, the chief mate had offloaded one of the high speed 31' MARAD patrol boats that we had on deck. The boat was lowered in the water with the ten ton crane, and within minutes pilots for the Mississippi River were heading down river with their new high speed boat. Pilot Town, where the pilots used to operate from was totally destroyed by the hurricane, and they needed a high speed boat to transport the pilots further up river to their temporary quarters for operations.

Shortly after dinner, I was taken to the Diamond State, a MARAD ship being used for Operation Katrina Relief, for briefings on security from the ship's captain.

By the next morning, many port officials and longshoremen were showing up for hot meals and a place to live. Many of them had lost their homes and have no place to live. In the city, the water is contaminated and electricity is virtuously non-existent. The workers eating and living on the Sirius have been very gracious and thankful for the hot meals and having a place to shower and sleep. Many of them had not had a shower in days or a hot
meal in over a week and it was evident!

Tuesday morning, the ship started cargo operations and by 1300 (1PM) on Tuesday, 9-13-05, the ship's crew had offloaded three containers of water weighing over 30 tons each. By late afternoon, another 31' high speed patrol boat owned by MARAD was offloaded, and was to be used down river for an oil spill clean up.

Since the Sirius has arrived in New Orleans, the ship has received a reputation for serving outstanding food and being very service oriented. Currently, two dining rooms are serving food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some days, over 300 have been fed. Each day more and more longshoremen, military, federal workers, and other personnel involved in Katrina Relief show up for food and a place to sleep and take showers. Many of the military personnel and other relief workers have not had laundry done since they arrived. Aboard ship, laundry operations are continuous, and the workers are very thankful to have clean clothes. So far, the Sirius has fed and berthed the following groups: FBI, Marine Patrol, MARAD officials, longshoremen, New Orleans Police, National Guard, Army, Coast Guard, staff members for the Secretary of Transportation, harbor pilots, officials from New Orleans, and fire fighters. Each day the list grows.

The ship has three large ice machines and except for the machines on the ship, ice is virtually impossible to get in New Orleans. Workers from the port and other areas show up at all hours to fill their ice chest with ice. It is our job to serve the workers involved in Katrina Relief and the crew of the Sirius has done an outstanding job of making the workers feel welcome and at home.


Captain Sam Stephenson
Master, Sirius