The 22 member crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harry Claiborne are hearty soles. they haven't been home in days ... they rode out the storm on the boat ....in the water near Barber's Cut ...just off the Houston Ship Channel ..some of them have had their cars destroyed ...... but they won't waiver from their mission. Their mission ...is to get the ship channel cleared ... so that all important part of our local commerce can once again resume.

Currently Cheif Warrant Officer John Ward and his crew are attempting to round up all the loose steering buoys from around the greater Galveston Bay area and return them to their proper stations. According to the crew .... 90% of the buoys in the Houston Ship Channel are either lost, damaged or located in the wrong place. In other words .....ships can no longer safely commute up and down the ship channel from Galvestion Bay to Houston.

Currently there are over 100 ships of all type ...anchored out in the Gulf ... waiting to get permission to head up the ship channel and do business. Photographer Scott Engle and I spent several hours on the Harry Claiborne today ..... and even though the crew had Ch-11 turned in to check on the latest storm recover stories ...... no one talked sports ...and there were no sports broadcasts on their satellite TV's.

The crew is very professional ....but also personable .... and even though this wasn't a dramatic search and rescue mission that they so often get publicity for .... this was a very important task that they were on ....surveying the damage that Ike did to the ship channel. By the way ...the only sports item on board ..... a brand new softball. The softball is sitting by the captain's chair up top on the bridge. They found it floating in the bay while on one of their recent missions.