Submarines, Airplanes
and Tugs
In
the early 1970s, Rick spent four years in the navy and trained to work
on diesel submarines. "I was first exposed to steam propulsion
in navy training," remembers Rick. "The school had a boiler
and steam turbine from a destroyer. I learned a great deal about steam
plant operation and then got sent to a diesel-powered submarine!"
After the navy, he fell in love with
more traditional boating while working as an engineer on tugs. He worked
on tugs traveling from Cherry Point to Alaska, along the west coast
of Vancouver Island, and up and down the Inside Passage.
His submarine training and love of adventure
drew him to a job with International Hydrodynamics out of Vancouver
manning Pisces-class submarines all over the world for nine years. These
two-man, deep-diving submersibles with a 2,000-meter depth allowed projects
never before attempted. They did jobs for phone companies, burying transatlantic
cable off the continental shelf, for oil companies exploring the North
Sea, and for the military.
Not a man to sit still or to be limited
to one technology when he wasn't offshore, he ran a flying service out
of St. Maries, Idaho, where his father had retired. After the oil bubble
burst in the early 1980s, which lessened the demand for commercial submarine
work, he operated remote underwater vehicles (like the cameras that
sent pictures back from the Titanic).
Back To Steam
After a few years flying for Horizon Air,
Rick hopped a freighter heading for the Middle East. The Gulf War demanded
Merchant Mariners to man the Ready Reserve ships that hauled cargo for
the military.
There
is a quality to steam that no other energy
source carries with it-it's an art.
"There is a Ready Reserve fleet owned by the Maritime Administration
and maintained on behalf of the Department of Defense," explains
Rick. "Of its seventy-four ships, half are on a four-to-five or
ten-day readiness status. The United States Merchant Marine has more
steamships than any other nation. The largest source of stationary steam
engineers (dealing with sources of steam energy on land) comes out of
the Merchant Marine and its academies."
Today Rick sails with the Merchant Marines about six months a year (an
84-hour a week job). When he's back in Seattle he teaches steam propulsion
classes at Seattle Central Community College. "I was in the right
place at the right time when they called the union looking for an instructor,"
remembers Rick. "I found I love to teach; it's an opportunity to
give something back."
Six years ago, about the time he moved
aboard his 65-foot tug, he stopped by Northwest Seaport and saw the
tugboat Arthur Foss lying idle. He volunteered to help them get it running
again and has been a dedicated volunteer for Seaport ever since. He's
now a board member for the non-profit organization.
In the spring of 2002, Northwest Seaport
had the last floating steam-driven lightship, Swiftsure, moved to their
south Lake Union docks. "Our goal," explains Rick, "is
to have everything in the engine room functioning-all the machinery
is operable. Our first objective is to get steam up in a boiler. I'd
love to have the lightship as an educational resource; a training aid
for steam classes."
The Art of Steam
Propulsion
"I've had a fascination for technological
archeology. I love the history and development of machinery. The restoration
of vintage machinery is my hobby," smiles Rick. "I enjoy the
simplicity and fundamental nature of the old machines. Designers in
the twenties and thirties were trained; cut their teeth designing steam
plants. When diesel power entered the maritime scene, the designs of
those engines were similar to the designs of the steam engines. The
old diesel on the Arthur Foss was built in the era between steam and
diesel propulsion and [though it's diesel] the design of the components
was very, very similar [to steam]."
Rick continued: "Steam propulsion is one of the earliest human
technologies. It's been a part of our social, economic and political
development for a couple of centuries. There is a quality to steam that
no other energy source carries with it-it's an art. You can make an
adjustment on a steam engine and it may not show up for half an hour.
It takes years to develop a feel for it and it's satisfying when it's
done right. There are old-timers who restore locomotives and steam tractors.
They have a passion equal to a composer and artist. Steam is their medium.
I love working with steam because it
so clearly shows the application of the theory, physics and fundamentals
of thermodynamics. It is science finding its place in metal. The sound
of 50-tons-per-hour of 900-degree, high-pressure steam going through
the piping on the way to the turbines…That sound is converted to
move a 125,000-ton ship through the water at seventeen knots. [That
forward motion] doesn't just happen, it's exciting."
When Rick starts talking about steam
propulsion, he can engage even the technologically illiterate. "Maritime
steam propulsion is celebrated in literature, he offers. In the book
The Death Ship by B. Traven, there is a fabulous description by a character
looking into an engine room. It seems more of a description of Dante's
Inferno. In the late 1800s, Rudyard Kipling took a trip from Britain
to Australia and New Zealand. In his book McAndrew's Hymn, the character
McAndrew was based on a ship's engineer. He gives one an amazing feel
for the passion of those in love with steam propulsion."
Northwest Seaport:
A Resource for Boaters
Seattle's Northwest Seaport, where you
can find Rick on weekends and odd times in between, seems to be a magnet
for people passionate about all aspects of boat repair and construction.
It's a resource for people wanting to learn. Volunteers can get instant
hands-on access to restoration projects. They can work on wood, fiberglass
or metal.
When asked to explain it to Northwest
boaters Rick responded, "I would ask them: Would you like to help
install an engine? Do you want to learn woodwork? Is there any particularly
interesting area of boat construction or maintenance you'd like to learn
about or learn more about? We'll teach you as much as we possibly can.
We don't charge you and you don't have to bring anything. You can ask
questions, follow us around or volunteer. We certainly can use technically
skilled people, but volunteers don't need to have any skill, just an
interest in whatever they feel like doing."
Seattle's
Northwest Seaport, where you can find Rick on weekends and odd times
in between, seems to be a
magnet for people passionate about all aspects
of boat repair and construction.
Rick would be considered the chief engineer for Northwest Seaport. He
takes responsibility for the engineering and mechanical aspects of the
restoration projects. Bill White is a full-time employee and the Seaport's
shipwright or "wood man." (And Bill is an ex-America's Cup
sailor in case you want to talk contemporary sailing technology.) Bill
and his assistant Dave Clute are there Tuesday through Friday working
on Wawona.
"Northwest Seaport is open Tuesdays
through Saturdays. There is a loyal volunteer group that show up on
Saturdays informally called 'The Boat Club.' They are just finishing
the restoration of the 1930's fishing trawler Twilight."
"We operate the Seaport," Rick
explains, "on small contributions, individual donations and a lot
of effort. We recently received a $150,000 grant from Save America's
Treasures to redo the decks and caulk the hull of the Arthur Foss and
hope to start the job in a couple of months."
There is currently a large grant from
the Department of Transportation available to the organization to get
started on the restoration program for Swiftsure, but they are having
trouble raising the necessary matching funds. They used to be able to
take people out on the vessels as fundraising events, but the cost of
insurance became prohibitive.
The Historical
and the Practical
With boats like the Wawona, Arthur Foss
and Swiftsure, Northwest Seaport has an historically important fleet
of boats. They also have knowledgeable and passionate human resources
like Rick Boggs. The Northwest boating community is lucky. If a person
is interested in maritime and technological history, wants to learn
some boat repair or restoration techniques, or just wants to learn to
look at their boat engine as more than a vibrating mass of metal, resources
abound. An excellent way to start would be to look up Rick at Northwest
Seaport. 
Rick
Boggs was sitting in the offices of a launch company in San Francisco
waiting for ride out to the Merchant Marine vessel to which he'd been
assigned. He glanced up. On the wall was a picture of his home, the 1944
tugboat F.L. Fulton. Its last job as a working tug had been for that very
company. Rick, who admits a passion for technological archeology and the
history and development of machinery, savored the serendipitous moment.