Tra­di­tion is in our bones at Great Lakes Tow­ing, but for Tug Cap­tain and 27-year mar­itime vet­er­an James “Chip” Walsh it’s also in his blood. As a third gen­er­a­tion tug­man, Walsh remem­bers watch­ing his Dad, James “Nick” Walsh, at work and see­ing his future.

“I nev­er thought of doing any­thing else once I saw what my father did for a liv­ing. I always knew I want­ed to be a Tug Cap­tain one day.”

He learned his craft work­ing side by side with his father aboard G‑Tugs. “We had a lot of fun work­ing togeth­er,” says Walsh, “I learned a lot from my Dad. He taught me that it’s nev­er just a tow – inci­dents can hap­pen fast. You can bring the same boat in the same slip 10 times – but it’s always dif­fer­ent. Hav­ing a con­tract with The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny – hav­ing a tug wait­ing for you when you arrive – it’s added pro­tec­tion that’s there when you need it most.”

But to Capt Walsh, fam­i­ly extends beyond his lin­eage and into the Port where he works. “The Port of Mil­wau­kee is its own com­mu­ni­ty. The peo­ple here – we’re like fam­i­ly. We all look out for each other.”

For Walsh, the love of the job is about the con­nec­tion he feels with his fel­low tug­men and the pas­sion he feels for help­ing ships con­duct their busi­ness safe­ly. “I love the chal­lenge that the job brings. My Dad always told me to prac­tice often and work hard. Over my career, that hard work has paid off. There is noth­ing like the sat­is­fac­tion of a job well done.”

Uti­liz­ing a Full-Ser­vice Lakes-Wide Tow­ing Con­tract with the Tow­ing Com­pa­ny pro­vides added insur­ance. It’s an added lev­el of safe­ty and sea­man­ship to pro­tect your crew, equip­ment, and the envi­ron­ment; wher­ev­er your ves­sel may call on the Great Lakes.

Pho­to Cred­it: Eric Gust