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Born in Cecil County, Maryland, Jacob Tuer was destined for a life on the water. His neighborhood had a slip for his family boat to rest in, and he spent countless hours on jon boats cruising the Elk River with his father.
His father, Jeff Tuer, operated survey vessels for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District from 2014 to 2018. He served on the S/V CATLETT, the District’s newest survey vessel, from the time of its commissioning in 2017 to the end of his USACE career in 2018.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Jacob is now the acting captain of the S/V CATLETT, the largest survey vessel in the District’s Hydrographic Survey Section. The ship surveys navigation channels in and around the upper and lower Chesapeake Bay, including shipping lanes associated with the Port of Baltimore, as part of the USACE mission to ensure safe navigation in the region’s federal channels.
Aboard the S/V CATLETT, Tuer performs the duties his father once did. It is his responsibility to get the vessel ready to go and navigate the Chesapeake Bay. Working with a crew of three to four, Tuer is a jack of all trades. He assists the surveyors with their setup, performs oil changes and general maintenance, inspects lifejackets, works with vendors to order fuel, and drives the vessel.
“Throughout my career, it’s been a recurring theme to hear, ‘I know your dad, I worked with him!’,” said Tuer.
Although the Tuers never worked aboard the S/V CATLETT together, the generational wealth of knowledge is impactful to the everyday survey mission of the Baltimore District. But when the M/V DALI struck the Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, leading to its catastrophic collapse and blocking the Fort McHenry Federal Channel, an additional member of this family of Maryland watermen, Jacob’s brother Matthew, found his path converging with his brother’s in an unexpected way. Matthew, a Boatswain's Mate 2 and activated Reservist with the US Coast Guard (USCG), also played a crucial role in the response efforts.
What brought these two brothers together still resonates as a tragedy and a great loss for the tightknit Maryland community. Thousands were affected immediately, and hundreds of thousands more would be affected in the days and months to follow.
Because the Baltimore District is responsible for ensuring safe depth and clear navigation for all who use the shipping channel, Jacob and the S/V CATLETT crew were on-site within hours of the bridge's collapse, providing sonar support and serving as a work platform for partner agencies in the search for survivors as the “Unified Command” interagency response took shape.
As the mission shifted to locating wreckage and providing data to restore safe navigation, Jacob and team continued their surveys, while Matthew, stationed at the Coast Guard port in Curtis Bay, provided security support from his patrol boat.
Shortly after the collapse, on March 28th, the brothers’ paths unexpectedly crossed when Jacob radioed the USCG about a civilian vessel that had entered the restricted zone near the collapse site. To his surprise, it was Matthew who responded to the call.
“I figured it was going to happen sooner or later,” Matthew said, chuckling at the coincidence. “I didn't think it would be on the first day.”
The Tuer brothers’ shared background and deep roots in the community have shaped their commitment to serving others. Jacob, a father of two and one of the roughly 37,000 civilians working for USACE, cherishes the time he spends with his wife and their children after long days on the water. Matthew, a full-time student at Towson University, juggles his Coast Guard duties with his studies in healthcare management.
For Jacob, looking back, one fond memory from when he was about 11 ignited a desire to work on the water.
“I remember being taken out of school for an appointment, and instead of my dad taking me back, he took me on a boat ride up the river,” Tuer said. “We went to the C&D canal and stopped at the Chesapeake Inn restaurant.”
In reality, the boat ride was uneventful. It was the vast knowledge that Jeff was able to share with Jacob that made the lasting impression and shaped the direction for his future career.
“It was such a long trip. We would pass businesses and boats and my dad would know exactly what they did and who worked there or on a particular boat,” said Tuer. “I remember passing by Dann Marine Towing and thinking it would be cool to work on a tugboat like that.”
Jacob would later graduate from SUNY Maritime College with an associate degree in Small Vessel Operations in 2016. After graduation, he started his career with Dann Marine Towing, the same company he aspired to work for as a young child.
“I worked on a tugboat engaged in dredging operations and I would always see Army Corps boats down there,” said Tuer. “That position was the other side of what I do now — it’s really neat looking at the operations from the other end.”
Navigational channel maintenance is a shared responsibility between USACE and the USCG. USACE is responsible for monitoring and maintaining the depth and width of the federal channel, while the USCG marks the best channel given the highly variable waterway conditions using fixed, floating, and virtual aids to navigation, as well as providing any restrictions on vessels.
The collapse of the iconic Key Bridge, a critical transportation artery that connected the complex geography of Baltimore, Maryland, has presented one of the nation's toughest engineering challenges in recent memory. With the bridge's wreckage obstructing vital water channels, disrupting transportation routes, and posing environmental risks, the urgency of the situation couldn’t be overstated.
“The readiness of our personnel to deploy at a moment's notice demonstrates their dedication to duty and community service,” Baltimore District Commander Colonel Estee Pinchasin emphasized. "Their resiliency and professionalism enable us to approach this disaster with speed and confidence."
On June 10, just over two months after the collapse and following final hydrographic surveys by the S/V CATLETT and Unified Command teams, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving restored the Fort McHenry Federal Channel to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep for commercial maritime transit through the Port of Baltimore.
The Key Bridge collapse has proven the resilience of the Maryland community, and it has highlighted the unwavering commitment of those who took on the mission, including the Tuer brothers, who found themselves united in purpose on the very waters that shaped their lives.
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.25.2024 12:37 |
| Story ID: | 479750 |
| Location: | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 4 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Generations on the Water, by Thomas Deaton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
