I worked on that boat for two and a half years and got to see every new guy on there go through the same experience. Three weeks of "Huh, what'd he say, huh, huh.", to a glimmer of recognition to actually conversing with him. It was a trip for sure.
Loved the riverboat story. In 1957 I was involved in shipping anhydrous ammonia by barge from south Arkansas to Florida. We had one barge that carried about 850 tons of ammonia, shoved by a little tiny tug with two 165 hp GMC diesels. There was a 4 man crew. I think they all came from New Orleans. I swear they lived on boiled eggs and turnip greens. Part of my job was to go down in the bunkroom, often about 4 am, to wake up the crew. The barge had "BOW" painted on one end and "STERN" on the other apparently identical end, and by gosh, they were going to shove it "BOW" first, which involved cutting it loose from the dock and turning it in the river while free floating, loaded with ammonia, and pipes sticking up all over the deck scraping the tree limbs. Why we never had a major environmental disaster I never knew.