On May 31, St. Andrews Optimists had a genuine treat when Austin Driggers, son of Optimist Michael Driggers, spoke at the Club’s breakfast meeting.
Driggers completely captured the room as he detailed his career path from high school to ultimately service in the Merchant Marines. Driggers, 27, graduated from Pelion High School and did not visualize himself in a college setting. After high school, for a few years he found work in construction, plumbing, farming, and general labor.
After doing some considerable research, he became interested in the Merchant Marines and began an extensive application process. Starting in January 2023, he was finally accepted and began his training that Fall. The period between application and acceptance was consumed by clearing extensive qualification hurdles. Driggers then trained for 17 weeks in Pine Point, Maryland in what he described as a “boot camp atmosphere.” Some, but not all, of the areas of his training were:
- Seamanship
- Fire fighting and control—It is ironic in the fact that his Dad is a long-time Columbia Fire Department officer.
- Water survival
- Man overboard readiness
- Lifeboat management, which Driggers said was far more detailed that he had expected
- Shipping industry facts and figures
The Merchant Marines are a civilian service—sometimes misunderstood as being a branch of the military. That said, it can be drafted into service during wartime. Driggers pointed out that during World War II, the casualty rate among Merchant Marines was higher than that of any “official” branch of the military. For example, trans-Atlantic crossings were highly dangerous because of German submarines.
Driggers described his job in the engine room of a typically assigned ship. This is his area of responsibility. The ships are powered by diesel and by electric engines. The typical diesel engine (there are three in action) is 67,000 horsepower and is between three and four stories tall. The engine room temperature normally is 100 or so degrees, and oil and soot are present most of the time.
He added that everything in and around the engine room is made of steel, be it the huge diesels or the water pipes that are “everywhere.” So in his words, “Everything down there is heavy. If you bump your head, it’s going to hurt.” It would be fair to say that the job is inherently dangerous, and carelessness is not an option. A standard work day is 12 to 14 hours unless there is some kind of all-hands-on-deck type of emergency. In those cases, it’s more of a “whatever it takes” scenario. Driggers added that his earlier experience in plumbing has been very helpful in his current assignment.
There are scheduled breaks built into the work day, outlined in a detailed contract that the Merchant Marines and their employers must sign.
Driggers described a “loop” that the ships he works on routinely travel, from Norfolk to Charleston to Houston, and then back to Norfolk. In every port, the ship unloads cargo and takes on cargo, so the Houston to Norfolk voyage is always with cargo loaded along the way. There have also been several voyages of a more international nature. On those assignments, he will inevitably interact with workers from all over the world. He counts that experience as a reward of the job.
Driggers anecdotally described the unique port of Rotterdam. He said that literally everything within the port, from the container trucks to the loading cranes, is done robotically. It is the most advanced port technologically he has ever seen.
There is an ongoing certification process moving employees from basic tasks to those with more responsibility, so training is always somewhere in Driggers’ future. His next scheduled training will be in late July, and then he will depart for 120 days at sea.
Coupled with the long stretches of work days at sea are generous vacation stretches. Once an employee is established, he can apply for particular routes or ships. Theoretically, if there is an area on the globe that the employee would like to see, working/traveling there can be arranged.
In the photo are Club President Kerry Powers, Driggers’ dad, Michael, and son Austin.
