Chapter 5

The next day Pat stopped by the shipyard to look it over, the owner was there and he showed Pat around.

The owner said he was nearing seventy now and was ready to retire. He said the Tug and the shrimp boat out of the water and under the shed were the last jobs he was going to take on. He told Pat he regretted having to lay off the seventeen good men he had. When Pat told the man he might be able to use all of them if they could make a deal he said "We can make a deal."

The yard owner said the yard was apraised for a half million ten years before but there was hardly any business for small shipyards now. He said he had turned down two hundred twelve last year. Pat said he was thinking of renting not purchasing.

The yard owner said he would rent the yard to Pat for ten thousand a month with all of the equipment but if he would pay sixteen thousand a month he would get the deed for the place in one year. Pat told him "We have made a deal." The yard owner took Pat around and introduced him, Pat promised each man a job at his present wages and all the overtime he could stand. The yard foreman was told to get those two jobs back in the water as soon as possible and to be prepaired for a fleet of barges about the first of next week.

Pat told Tim what he had done at the shipyard. Tim was pleased that he would not have to look for people to work in the yard. Pat told him to look anyway, as many as five barges could be worked on tied to the sea wall next to the yard sheds. Pat suggested Tim see the yard foreman, Shelton, and ask him to locate more help.

Tim had dispatched every tug he could spare and crews for the three tugs Pat had bought in the sale to Charleston that morning. Five tugs had left and two more would leave the next morning. The crews would live aboard those Tugs. Each had two full five thousand gallon fuel tanks on their decks and full ship's tanks. Tim said he figured they would make Charleston about noon Wednesday.

Pat said he would meet them there.

Pat called the seaplane charter service that was renting the office and site next to the fuel docks. He chartered a flight to the Naval Base at Charlston for early enough to get him there at noon. There would be a return flight that night.

Crystal would have liked to go but she was so far behind in her work she could not spare the time. Pat realized that he had her overburdened with work. He thought he needed to do something about that. Tim was being asked to do too much as well.

Tuesday Pat met with his banker. Mr. Kent told Pat he was growing much to fast, that he was nearing his credit line and in the future the bank would have to approve any more loans in advance. Pat told the banker that his bank's money was safe. He told him his latest purchases would bring their costs in scrap. Pat outlined his plans to build a houseboat marina. The banker told Pat he might be interested in one of those rental house barges himself. He said he and his wife were living in a large expensive house and all four of their kids were married and gone. He was paying four hundred a month to dock his cabin cruser when he could dock against one of Pat's house barges free. Pat told him he was free to view the one he lived in any time. Pat told Mr Kent he had three bedrooms and all the modern conviences.

The banker told Pat he would take him up on that in a week or two. Pat left with a Cashiers Check for one million nine hundred seventy two thousand made payable to the Naval Sales Office, Charleston.

Pat's first stop after leaving the bank was the shipyard. He found every one busy. His foreman was operating a forklift. He parked it and joined Pat in the quiet of the office. There was a lady there at a computer. Pat was introduced to Ms. Janet Townsend. She said she had been working there for two years, she was doing the books and most of the purchasing. Pat was told the yard could not operate as efficiently with out her. Pat told Janet to plan on staying on after he took over. Brad Shelton said he had five Shipwrights that might be interested in hireing in. Brad said he could recommend all of them. Pat said if they suited him they suited him. Pat said "You are the new yard manager." "Your salary will be increased by two hundred a week when I take over the yard. Brad said "Yes sir."

Janet asked if he was the Colson that owned every thing between the yard and the bridge. Pat admitted he was. She said "You have a lot of things going." Pat smiled and agreed with her.

The fuel dock was his next stop, a large cargo ship was at the dock for fuel. Her Captain was just arriving at the office, He was ridden from his ship to there by a golf cart driven by one of the dockhands. While the captain was giving the clerk his international credit card for payment for fuel Pat introduced himself. The captain was employed by a Greek shipping firm. He said he had usually taken on fuel across the bay but he was here for his first time because another ship's captain had told him this place was more modern and filled his tanks in half the time.

Pat told the captain he was glad for his busisness.

The sales clerk brought the captain's credit card back and told him and the yard hand that he was authorized to take on his fuel needs. She would send out his recipt as soon as the pumps were shut down.

That ship loaded a hundred thousand dollars worth of fuel and the money was in the fuel docks account within minutes of her posting the total to the credit card company. Another ship was standing by in the harbor.

Every fuel slot was occupied in front by cars and trucks and a car was waiting.

Pat's next stop was the scrap yard, they were cutting up a barge. Pat watched from his truck as a bundle of pieces were loaded on a barge by a crane with a magnet.

The foreman was running the crane. Pat's scrap yard was doing well.

The next stop was the construction office. A tug captain was in Tim's office. He was telling Tim that he and his crew had not had an hour off since the other Tugs had been sent to Charleston. Tim told him he and his crew would have to hold on until the others got back and then he and his crew could count on going back for more barges while one of the other smaller tugs took over here. That captain stomped out after saying "Boss me and my crew will be wealthy men after this shit is over, we have no time to spend our wages working like this." After he was gone Pat entered Tim's office. Troubles Pat asked. Tim said "That guy is one of the best we have but he has to bitch now and then. Pat asked if every thing was all right. Tim said every project was working short handed while moving Pat's purchases from Charleston. Pat told Tim to do the best he could. Pat left knowing Tim would.

Pat's next stop was the pump shop. Slaughter the shop foreman was unloading a large pump with the overhead crane. Slughter told Pat the pump was from a shipyard in Norfalk. He said they were going to get all of their repairs now.

Pat went into the office section. Crystal was so engrossed with her computer she did not know Pat was there until he kissed her. Pat told her again he wished she were going with him to Charleston. Crystal said she could not spare the time she was so far behind. She said she was getting all of the new purchases covered by insurance and that had to be done before the Tugs left coming back. Crystal said she was a week behind posting to her general ledger.

Pat went to his office convinced he needed to get Crystal and Tim some help. Pat was thinking of how to do that and realized that one thing he could do was to combine the office of the ship yard, the construction office and the pump shop office. The salvage office was just an office trailer and that was fine because purchases of supplies went through Crystal and sales were to only one place, Osgood Steel Company. Tim was running the construction busisness from a houseboat. He needed more room and someone to answer the phone. The fuel dock needed a real office to monitor inventory and control cash flow. Crystal's office at the pump shop was small and there was not enough room to place someone in there to help her.

Between the shipyard and the salvage yard was a large one story building that had been built in the late eighteen hundreds as a shiping company's offices. The company had closed after world war one during the Great Depression of nineteen twenty nine. In the last seventy years the building had been used for many things. It had been empty for the last ten years. The old wood warf was just snags of wood piling now but there was a concrete bulkhead the lengh of the bay frontage. That was in good repair. Pat decided to look at that building after he returned from Charleston.

Pat and Ellen prepaired dinner for Crystal, himself, Ellen and the two children. Crystal came in at six thirty, she was so weary she just picked at her food.

Pat would have liked to fuck her that night but Crystal went straight to bed after dinner. Ellen put the children to bed at eight and Pat undressed in his and Crystal's bedroom and joined Ellen in her room. Ellen was glad to have Pat in her bed. Ellen was a very good fuck, almost as good as Crystal. Ellen had fucked Tom the night before and was content to give Pat one of her truly great blowjobs. Ellen had a climax when she took Pat's cock in her mouth and another when he spurted in her mouth. After a bit of Pat sucking on her tits she mounted his hard cock and had six or eight orgasms before Pat shot his juice in her. He and Ellen kissed good night and Pat went to bed with Crystal.

Pat was up at four AM, he fixed scrambles, zapped bacon and had buttered toast for breakfast. He was at the charter service at five thirty. His pilot was the owner of the charter service and they were flying in a high winged Cessna plane with floats. Pat liked that, he could see the ground. The Atlantic coast was a pretty sight that day. After circling over the naval base the pilot got the base radio and asked permison to land. He stated his reason and where he wanted to go. He was instructed to land and taxi to the seaplane docks. A car would be dispatched to take them to the Surplus Sales office. While the pilot was tying off the plane a van drove up. The pilot was staying with his plane. Pat went to the sales office. While he was there the first of his tugs arrived. Pat met with the six tugs captains and they went over the items to be moved. It was going to take two trips to get all of that stuff home. Each tug captain was given his asignment and they began to load barges with the two large cranes Pat had bought. They would begin their first trip home before dark.

Pat left and flew back home, they landed before dark. Christal was still at work in the pump shop office. At seven thirty she would have put in thirteen and a half hours in the office. Pat made her shut down the computer and go home with him. Ellen had made pizzas and a large one was still warm in the oven. Pat poured wine and Crystal ate a fair amount of her dinner. After they finished eating Pat ran the whirlpool tub full of hot water and put Crystal in it, he joined her.

Pat asked Crystal if she was getting caught up in the office. Crystal told him she would be by noon the next day. Pat told her to be looking for some help in the office.

Thursday morning Pat reached the Captain of the lead tug by radio. All seven tugs were at sea, he had decided not to come back by the Inland Water Way. The weather was good and it would take less time to return that way. Captain Norris said he had the other six tugs in sight. He estimated their arival to be sometime Saturday morning. Pat checked each office and went by the old building. He drove off Bay Shore Drive onto a concrete parking lot. The front of the building had a long wide porch with brick columes suporting it. When it had been built that had been for visitors to drive under in their buggys or carages and get in or out if it was raining. From outside the building looked to be in good shape, it had a metal roof that was rusty and needed sand blasting and paint. The window openings were covered with rusty steel plate The exterior walls were brick and were a foot and a half thick. Pat rememberd how pretty that old building he had bought in Charleston had looked after he had it blast cleaned.

There was a modern roll up door at one end of the building. At the back a door opening was covered with steel plate. The wide double doors at the front were standing open, someone had stolen the locks from them. Those doors were made of Teak and except for a few scratches were as good as the day they were installed. The inside of the structure was all open space. The last tenant had used it as a warehouse. There was a pile of pallets in one corner. The pieces of an antique electric forklift were in another. Pat found a set of stairs near the center of the structure the set going down were to dark to use until Pat got a flashlight from his truck. There was a full basement down there. Pat found the remains of a large coal furnace and the piping to carry warm air to what had been the offices upstairs. The basement was dry and a number of floor drains were in the floor.

Pat went up the stairs to the atic. Pidgons had pecked holes in the screens behind the large louvers at each end. Hundreds of old nests were on the floor and the floor was littered with their crap.

The roof system was heavy 4"x 12" heart pine rafters supported at the ridge by a steel beam the length of the structure. That beam was supported at the end walls by brickwork and at the chimney then a brick pier comimg all the way from a foundation below the basement floor. The metal roofing was nailed to heart pine 2"x12 "s spaced so close that only a foot of space was between them. Pat was sure no storm would ever damage that boilding. As he suspected there was no insulation between the atic flooring and the metal ceiling below.

Back down stairs Pat was looking at bare brick walls they would need to be insulated or it would cost a fortune each month to heat or cool the building.

Pat decided the building could be converted to meet his needs.

Pat had to contact a trust officer at a bank in New York to discuss the property. The banker told Pat the property was a part of a famly trust and he would be more than willing to take an offer on it. Pat asked if the bank had a value on the property. The banker said the property was depreciated down to forty two thousand dollars and that was the value in their books. He said he might be able to take less but that would have to be approved by the members of the trust. Pat told him to have a deed drawn and a bill of sale. Pat promised that when that was ready the banker could call him and he would drive up to New York and close the sale. The banker asked what bank he would be issuing the check from. Pat said he would be paying in cash. There was a silence and then the banker promised to have the deed ready to transfer at ten AM Monday.

Pat was amazed that any one depreciated land, any land appreciated as time went by.

Pat figured he was getting a millon dollar piece of property for forty two thousand.

Pat went back to look at his property. The land behind the building and on each side was so grown over in weeds he was afraid to drive down to the sea wall. He found a way on foot and worked his way to the sea wall. It was in very good shape and every twenty feet a concrete pile was left sticking up exactly three feet. Excelent for tying the barges arriving Saturday to. Pat wondered how clean the land would be if he set those last years dead weeds on fire. There was a good breeze coming off the bay, a fire would burn toward Bay Shore Drive. Pat lit clumps of dead weeds in a dozen places then went to his truck. He thought it would be wise to park in front of his shipyard to watch. In an hour that fire had burned so hot that even small trees were consumed it had stopped at the edges of the paved areas and at the building walls. The land behind the building was flat and level and slopped to the sea wall. A black ash covered everything but Pat was sure a rain would bed that down in the stuble. That night Pat and Crystal woke to the crash of thunder and the sound of heavy rain pelting the steel roof of their home.

Pat had told Tim and Crystal of his purchase of the old building over a steak dinner the evening before. Friday morning Pat took them to see their new offices.

Tim was amazed at how well built the old structure was. Tim said they were standing on an oak floor two inches thick over a sub-floor of two-inch heart pine. After Tim saw the atic and the basement Tim said it would be reasonably cheap to turn this place into the finest office in the bay area. Crystal said the building would be beautiful if the walls were sand blasted and those rusty plates covering the window openings were removed. She added that the roof needed blasting and painting.

Pat told them he was going to hire an office design firm as soon as he had that deed Monday.

Pat drove them down to the sea wall. The char of the burnt grass and weeds was gone, washed into the bay by the heavy rain the night before. Pat showed Tim that most of the empty barges could be rafted at the sea wall. Next door was the shipyard where they would be modified. Tim asked how long that sea wall was. Pat told him the map at the courthouse noted it as being a thousand feet long. Tim said "It looks more like fifteen hundred to me." Pat drove Tim to his floating office and Crystal to the pump shop. There were dozens of things to do before the tugs made it back. That afternoon Pat took a forty two thousand dollar check to his bank and cashed it for large bills. Pat had told Crystal that as soon as the barges and tugs were in port she was going to New York with him. He had made reservations at the Waldorf. Cristal got a little excited and had to go pee. Saturday at nine thirty AM the tugs came steaming up the bay, each got its instructions as to where to leave it's tows. Pat and Crystal left for New York City before noon. Pat and Crystal had never been there before. Pat had a city map and drove direct to the Waldorf. It took more than an hour to check in.