Wolfe enjoys time on diamond, and on camera
Editor’s note:
Alex Wolfe, a double major in engineering and Deck (potential Captain) as a U.S. Merchant Marine in Kings Point, New York, is currently at sea heading to Belgium and Germany, among other ports. As a centerfielder on the Mariners baseball team this year, Wolfe hit .304 with 27 runs, 18 RBIs and 19 stolen bases, helping lead his team to a 22-14 record in the Landmark Conference, including two wins over rival Coast Guard.
He was on the Kings Pointer training ship recently when the popular ABC show 20/20 showed up to tape a segment. Wolfe shared his thoughts with the Daily Bee about the interesting experience.
With the opportunity to sail, on merchant vessels, 360 days during my four year tenure as a Midshipman at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, I made the decision to spend 28 of those days on the Kings Pointer, the USMMA cadet training ship. The training ship is 252 feet and was previously used by the Navy as a submarine hunter. It’s a huge challenge to schedule 360 days of sea time when participating in a sport at the academy so during my Sophomore baseball season, when the rest of my classmates were out sailing over the oceans, I stayed at school for two extra months playing center field for the K.P. Mariners. During my stay at the academy I worked on the training ship, Kings Pointer, from 0700-1500 daily and then went to baseball practice in the evenings.
It was on April 15, while on the Kings Pointer that I got an unexpected part in a TV series special for ABC news. Since the whole world new about the capture of the Maersk Alabama, which ended in the death of four Somalia pirates, on April 12, ABC news decided to make a 20/20 special report for that Friday night regarding piracy to our merchant fleets. Not a lot of people understand the maritime industry but this world renown piracy act opened a lot of public eyes to the risks involved and how shipping, the most logistical and cheapest mode of transporting goods, is accomplished.
As I walked down the wharf to work, it was not the calm quiet walk I had done 24 times before. Instead it was a mass of confusion with large trucks and equipment spread about the area. The camera crew set up for overhead action videos and reports helped those getting interviewed work their microphones. I had never experienced such Hollywood chaos and was even more shocked when I boarded the ship and walked into the meeting room to see Richard Machowicz, the host of future weapons and a previous Navy Seal sniper! A group of us merchant mariners talked with Mr. Machowicz for a while and surprisingly he had as many questions for us, about our life on the sea, as we did for him and his life as a Navy Seal turned Hollywood star!
There was much preparing as we helped the crew set up and got briefed on our roll in the 20/20 special. All morning we did this and it was not until after lunch that we shot the short action scenes that would be part of the ABC “Enemy on Board” show. Since even the directors were learning about what we, merchant marine, do to protect ourselves from pirates, there was a great deal of communication and some confusion while shooting. Since none of us were actors we had to shoot the scenes a number of times and I had a very good time doing so.
In the episode I was on the screen in a few shots shooting the water hose over the stern of the ship at the “pirates” and the starting first baseman on the KP baseball team was shown shooting flares, warning shots, off the stern next to me. One of the flares was misguided and landed in a dinghy boat a few hundred feet offshore which we all got a great kick out of because no harm was done. After the shooting was all finished it was another normal day for me heading back up to my room to change for baseball practice.
So, because I stayed at school to play baseball, I became part of the cast, on the Kings Pointer training ship, fighting off “pirates”, praying that my fellow midshipmen sailing on the seas were safe and free from the harm of any pirates.
—Alex Wolfe