Chivalry Isn’t Dead
There IS, in this life, a yin and a yang, an alpha and an omega, and yes – I’ll say it – a male and a female.
I’ll go even further; nowhere in the incontrovertible primordial circle of life is this more apparent than on a shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Wait, what?
Shrimp boats. Where manly men of the sea ply their trade for days and sometimes weeks on end to bring their catch to market.
It’s not a job for the faint of heart, and traditionally, hasn’t been a job for women. I don’t know why.
Women are certainly capable. But it’s been a long-held maritime-superstition/ tradition that women, like bananas, are bad luck on a boat.
While the bad luck banana’s origin is clouded in mystery, the woman one is easier to figure. Apparently, ship captains, from even the earliest voyages, weren’t too keen on distractions. To a bunch of young dudes trying to do whatever the captain said, women were distractions.
Whether it’s because of the old superstition, or the fact that most women are smart enough to steer clear of a career where they leave home for long periods time on a boat with much less-than-lavishly appointed living quarters and a bunch of dudes who work long hours in the hot sun with little attention to personal hygiene, or what, it remains that you’ll find very few females working on shrimp boats.
Likewise, a few years back, female game wardens were few and far between. As more and more women were hired and sent down to the coast, more and more shrimpers took notice. Former Game Warden Nikki Brauchle spent a lot of time checking shrimpers in the Gulf, and she noticed them noticing.
More on that later first, allow me a step up on my soapbox. I would argue that the most dangerous thing a game warden does has nothing to do with hunting season and knowing that everyone they approach has a gun.
Indeed, some of the moments that made me murmur for mommy the most involved moving myself from a game warden patrol boat to the deck of a shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the wind and the waves, the currents and the chaos – a lot can go wrong. Fortunately, Texas Game Wardens are up to the task.
Game wardens routinely check boats in various weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf shrimp boats can be anywhere from (+/-) 50-to-80 feet long.
Back in the day, most game wardens’ patrols were conducted using 20-to-25-foot bay boats that were approximately four-to-six feet below the deck of whatever shrimp boat they were attempting to board. A slow approach is a good approach - every game warden knows.
But a slow approach gives those about to be boarded time to think. Upon seeing a female (in this case, Nikki) on the bow of the game warden boat, the shrimpers on deck would drop whatever they were doing, disappear into the cabin of the boat and reappear moments later, nervously smiling.
After making the leap to board, Nikki - unlike her male counterparts - would be greeted with enthusiasm by all the hands on deck (dudes).
Early on, she realized that the waft of cologne- covered diesel/ shrimp/body odor/funk that fouled her airspace as she said, “State Game Warden. Y’all having any luck?”, had nothing to do with the hustle and bustle about that preceded her boarding and/or any ill-gotten-booty that might be on the boat.
Quite the contrary those manly men of the sea were making themselves presentable to a lady, even though no amount of (I’m sure it must’ve been) Old Spice cologne could cover up the scent of days at sea. Kudos to those guys. Indeed, chivalry isn’t dead!
Jon Brauchle spent 29 years as a game warden.
