“In a captain’s work you have to know a little bit of everything.”By Leon SuseranSixty-seven year-old Maheshwar Soogrim has spent much of his life on the waterways of the world and right here at home too. His love for the rivers,Cheap Jerseys For Sale, oceans and seas, piloting the direction of steamers and larger vessels has earned him a name in the Ancient County and in the annals of the Transport & Harbours Department (T&HD). Soogrim was very dedicated to his job and ensured that he worked beyond the call of duty, when the need arose.Maheshwar SoogrimHe was born at Sheet Anchor Village, East Canje, Berbice, on June 14, 1945. His father was Soogrim, a fisherman. Young Soogrim attended the All Saints’ Scot School in New Amsterdam by day and assisted his father with fishing at nights, in the waterways and rivers in Berbice.“In the nights, I would go fishing with him and go back to school in the morning. We used to fish all over Berbice.”He had two sisters and Maheshwar recalled that in spite of his father being a single parent, “he was trying a lot—he did fishing very regularly, because he had to look after us”.It so happened that Maheshwar Soogrim met his wife while he was fishing one day in the Glasgow, East Bank Berbice area. They got married in 1964 and settled right there.? In 1969, he joined the Guyana Mining Enterprises (GUYMINE) and worked on the bauxite boat, which traveled to Trinidad, Venezuela and even the United States. He acquired his Captain’s Licence. This was the beginning of a long journey of life being spent off-land. Maheshwar reflected that he started off as an ordinary deck-boy or ‘deck- hand’. He was then promoted to Sailor, then Able-Bodied Sailor and later Boatswain.“The Boatswain took instructions from the Mate and passed them on to the workers”.“After then, I changed ship and I was employed with Reynolds Bauxite Company, based in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was employed as an Able-Bodied Sailor, and after I finished with that, I went on another boat called’ Ziponna’, owned by a Greek Company.”He was afforded the opportunity to travel across several countries, including Canada and the U.S.A.“It’s nice, because when you go to a different country, you normally have to pay… but they were paying for us and taking us. We used to go to Africa, Canada, Halifax, all over in the States, Mississippi and so on.”He reminisced that in Northern Canada, the part where he was, there was very little sun.“The majority of the time was winter—we had very little sun there. You get a little problem with the coldness. Sometimes when you get sun for a day, you come out and sit down in the sun and you’re glad for it,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, because it used to be very cold and the whole river was sheer ice… and the ship too—you had to be indoors most of the time.”“Me and my colleagues interchanged shifts keeping watch and steering the ship, but sometimes we used automatic steering.”Two years later, Maheshwar joined another bauxite company on the East Bank of Berbice as a Boatswain doing the job of a Second Mate, “…automatic steering—the captain ran one watch, the Chief Mate ran one and the Boatswain ran another. I ran the 4-8 watch”.In 1976, upon returning home on one-month’s leave,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, he was employed as a captain by Raymond Corporation. He captained the company tug while the Canje River Bridge was being constructed.“I was a key-man on that project. I had to go with the tug and take off the beams… and they built the bridge and it finished before schedule in 1978. Then I entered GUYMINE transporting Bauxite from Kwakwani to Everton, about 180 miles up the Berbice River.”He was employed there from 1978 to 1988.At the controls of the MV Makouria in 2004Maheshwar was recommended for employment with the T&HD by the then Harbour Master, Mr. Tony Haynes. “He knew me and he knew I got my licence and he wrote a recommendation to Transport and as soon as T&HD saw that recommendation from him,NFL Jerseys Supply, they employed me.” He quickly attained his Guyana Coastal Master Licence.He was employed as a Mate in 1991 on the MV Torani. “I led the deck-hands and worked on the bridge”. “After three months, they realized that I got my certificate and had potential and they put me as Captain right away, and I started to run the Berbice River, from the New Amsterdam Stelling to Rosignol Stelling.”He operated nearly all of T&HD’s steamers including MV Torani, Makouria, Lady Northcote, Barima and Kimbia, on the Northwest trips. On the Northwest trips, he stated that due to the fact that he did not know those rivers too well, he was employed as Mate, “I knew the outside of the river, but they had to get a man who knew the inside [of the river]”.Soogrim was passionate about his work