Four SIU crews are recent recipients of United Seamen’s Service (USS) “Honored Seafarers Awards.” The honors were bestowed on the mariners Nov. 7 during the 34th annual Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards (AOTOS) in New York.More than 800 industry leaders, including SIU President Michael Sacco, attended the outing that has been dubbed the maritime industry’s most prestigious honor. The event took the form of a dinner and dance and held at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers.
Receiving recognition were SIU members who on specific dates were aboard Pacific Marine’s Faust, Matson’s Mokihana, Interocean Ugland Management’s Northern Lights and the Military Sealift Command’s USNS Concord. The crews from the Faust, Mokihana and Concord were recognized for heroism during rescues at sea while those aboard the Northern Lights garnered laurels for bravery in the performance of their duties during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Faust on Dec. 7, 2002 saved five passengers, including a 15-year-old boy, who were aboard a 54-foot fishing boat off the coast of Hampton, Va.
On July 19, 2002, the crew and officers on the Mokihana rescued six Japanese fishermen off Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The crew and officers from the Northern Lights, from March 20-22, were on a Military Sealift Command charter in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the port of Kuwait. The vessel’s crew included 26 civilian mariners plus a 12-man security detachment of U.S. Marines. Secured in an area at high risk for terrorist and SCUD-NBC missile attacks with an ammonia plant and a chlorine plant at either end of the terminal, the crew and port workers and Marines were subject to 12 SCUD alerts and one SCUD attack that occurred without warning. The impact of this attack rocked the ship at its moorings.
On several occasions, SCUD alerts came while crew members were performing duties that could not be immediately abandoned without risk of damage to the ship. At these times the crew continued with the work at hand until the vessel was secure, despite the obvious risk to their personal safety. Through the entire ordeal no one complained of fatigue or danger. The ship also provided shelter, food and hospitality for hundreds of military personnel in the area.
The crew and officers from the combat stores ship Concord on June 24 rescued 27 mariners from the Egyptian-flagged cargo ship Green Glory off the coast of Oman. The Green Glory was half submerged and rolling heavily from side to side—the result of an engine fire — when the Concord arrived at its location.
In addition to the foregoing honors for mariners, several other awards were presented.
The USS 2003 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award was given to Chuck Raymond, chairman, president and CEO of SIU-contracted Horizon Lines, the largest American-flag liner service ocean carrier and Jones Act trade transportation provider. Horizon is the renamed CSX Lines, which descended from Sea-Land Service.
A Special AOTOS award was presented to the U.S. Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) for its extraordinary role in the nation’s ability to project and sustain combat power that enabled freedom for the Iraqi people. Much of the success of the operations, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has been attributed to the bonds that MTMC has forged with the industry. U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Ann Dunwoody, MTMC commander, accepted the award on behalf of MTMC.
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