For those of you curious about the picture of the ship above , that is the M.V. Miscaroo (The Owl). In 1983 I was part of the original crew of this icebreaking, anchor handling tug. I joined her as she launched from Vancouver Shipyards, sailed across the Gulf of Alaska, continued around the top of North America past Barrow, to the Beaufort Sea where I worked as a deckhand for three full seasons after graduating from Queens with an English degree.
How was it? Cold, hard, dirty and dangerous. But lucrative, very lucrative. The mantra was ‘Think of the money.’
What did I learn? Canada is enormous and diverse. Our crew was 19 mariners from all three oceans Vancouver, Halifax; and Tuktoyaktuk as well as several lake systems like Toronto, and Hay River N.W.T.. I also learned what it is to be among men, isolated from broader civilization where the main entertainment beyond a few VHS tapes was conversation and storytelling. Your status as a crew member depended on those skills as much as the technical aspects of supporting an oil drilling operation in the Arctic. Main topic of conversation? Women. Number of stories? Seemingly infinite, most of them painful.
As a mediator I reflect on how my previous experience informs my practice as a mediator. I think now of real ice breaking as a metaphor for some mediations. When the ‘ice’ comes down there are no more straight lines of travel. You have to search for cracks (called ‘leads’ ) to make any progress.There also may come a time when you realize this ice is not going to break. Then you have to move the operation off location for a while (very tricky and dangerous). And all the pounding and crashing is in support of something larger than just the boat and the needs of its crew. This whole operation is hard on everyone and especially men.
When things get ‘icy’ I draw on my experiences as a young mariner to help people navigate through the most difficult of circumstances.