An Interview with Captain Christine Klimkowski

By Jenny Johnson, Maritime Inclusion Partners

I had the pleasure of meeting Captain Christine Klimkowski (she/her) last year while working together on mariner training. Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing her about her most recent assignment on a research vessel and her journey to becoming a pilot in Southeast Alaska. I hope you find our discussion enjoyable!

Photo courtesy. Captain Christine Klimkowski (she/her)

Captain Christine Klimkowski is an experienced Master Mariner and instructor. With over 20 years at sea, she knows what life onboard is like, and she's passionate about sharing her skills and knowledge in a practical and realistic way.

She holds an unlimited tonnage Master's license with unlimited First-Class Pilotage upon the waters of Southeast Alaska from Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay. She earned a Leadership Executive MBA from Seattle University in 2017.

Jenny Johnson: Tell me about your last assignment that brought you to Taiwan.

Christine: I joined the RV Thomas G. Thompson as chief mate, in late December, right before Christmas, in Guam, and we had three science cruises while I was there. The first science cruise was a two-week student cruise. We had a lot of the oceanography students onboard with their professors taking samples. Then, we did a two-part cruise that studied water masses and their temperature interfaces. Working off the coast of Saipan, we deployed all sorts of floating instrument packages and towed an instrument package for a little bit. And then the final trip, we were doing a bunch of work halfway between Guam and Taiwan. Studying the interface of different water masses with towed instruments, gliders, and floaters. And then we ended the cruise in Taiwan, which is where I got off the ship. From there, the ship deadheaded down to Australia to conduct water sampling from Fremantle, Australia, to Phuket, Thailand.

Jenny Johnson: It's very cool. So, you were collecting samples where two different bodies of water meet, correct?

Christine: Yes

Jenny Johnson: How did you determine where to take the samples?

Christine: They had satellite images to tell them kind of where to target. And they targeted that area based on historical data as well. And so we would go and survey with the ship's equipment the ADCP unit. And then once we targeted a mass of water. We then tow their instrument package through it, kind of mowing the lawn back and forth, or different kinds of radial patterns.

Jenny Johnson: What was your level of involvement in these scientific operations as chief mate?

Christine: As a bridge watch stander. We're driving the ship and moving the equipment and monitoring, to a certain extent, some of the other packages. We'd get a sense in talking to the scientist about when they wanted to change course or not. We can also see the ADCP data. We can see the same data screens that they're looking at. You start to see what might look interesting for them. But as the chief mate, I work closely with the chief scientist because on the Thompson, the chief mate and the captain run the back deck for deployments and recoveries. I work very closely with the chief scientist for those operations to know what the operations are going to look like for a given day. Because I have to manage the deck department and who's doing what for the day. There are days where we do a lot of deployments and recoveries where the deck department does no shipboard maintenance, and there are other days when we're towing a package around for 3 days or so, where there are no scientific operations for the deck department to support. And that is when we focus more on ship maintenance.

Jenny Johnson: How did you learn about this opportunity?

Christine: I've worked with the RV Thompson on and off since 2014. I have their port captain's contact information. I had reached out and said I'm looking for an opportunity for work in this timeframe, but more important for your readers is to know about the UNOLS job e-letter. I get those weekly or biweekly emails from UNOLS. So it would have shown up there if I hadn't already hopped on.

Jenny Johnson: Cool. That's a good tip, and anybody can sign up to get that communication. Those who are interested can contact Meegan Corcoran at meegan@unols.org to sign up for that newsletter.

Christine: Absolutely. And you know people think of research ships they think about Woods Hole or Scripps but there's several different schools that have smaller, 100-ton, 200-ton vessels, or even 500-ton vessels that are looking for crew. But it's a great resource for research vessel work.

Jenny Johnson: What has been some of your favorite milestones from your career?

Christine: I think one of the jobs I had early on in sailing, and we wound up circumnavigating the globe. That was certainly very cool. That ship at full speed would do 34 knots. You know there's no other time in my career I've gone that fast, and it changes the way you think about things, right? So, it was a unique opportunity.

Jenny Johnson: Wow! What other milestones do you look back fondly on.

Christine: It was hard, and it was exhausting, but I really was glad to have been able to go back and teach on the training ship. I went back and taught and did the summer sea term of 2013 for SUNY maritime. So, it was at my Alma mater, and to have a hand in the instruction and formation of new 3rd mates was very cool.

Christine: And then my first hitch as captain, of course. That was one for the books. Yeah, never a dull moment. Right? We had an engine failure problem. We had to come back into port early. There was like a medical issue. It was like a lot of things, but I got to bring the ship back through the Ballard locks, which was also very cool.

Jenny Johnson: We've been talking about more recent things. Tell me about your first maritime job.

Christine: So, my first maritime job was right out of school. I had gotten on an old stick ship that was run by Sea Lift, Incorporated. We loaded bagged grain for the refugee camps in Africa. It was World Food Program grade. I think I joined the ship in Houston. We loaded there. We then loaded grain at Lake Charles, and then we went over to Africa, and that was a very memorable trip because, of course, it was my first trip at sea. But when we stopped for fuel in South Africa, it was September 11, 2001. So got to listen to what happened on the radio and then we, you know, got underway for another 10 days with no Internet. No satellite radio, very limited emails. We then discharged cargo for about 10 days in Kenya. And then, after a couple of day transit. I think we spent 5 or 6 days in Mozambique, and then we went back and laid up the ship in Lake Charles.

Jenny Johnson: Wow! That must have been so hard to just not know what was going on.

Christine: Yeah, it's wild because it's hard to remember that 2001 wasn't that long ago. But things were very different then very limited communication. I remember trying to call every person I could remember with a calling card and a pay phone at the Seamans Center trying to get a hold of people. Because my, of course, my cell phone wouldn't work in South Africa.

Jenny Johnson: When you started your career back then did you envision it being what it is today?

Christine: No, not at all. And I think that's true for a lot of people in the maritime industry. There is probably a higher percentage than maybe other professions. But I think there's it's still a small percentage of people who like are like, this is what I'm doing, and then they do it, and it's a straight line, and they get to exactly where they want to be. I think, like a lot of people who joined the maritime industry I didn't really know if this is what I wanted to do when I started. Then when I figured out, I liked it. I was like, okay, the plan is sail for 5 years, put a nest egg aside, go back, and get a master's degree. I wanted to teach K through 12 sciences. But after 5 years sailing, I was like, I'm good. I'm still doing this. 5 years became closer to 10. And then I was like, Yeah, you know, I'm burnt out. It's time for me to do something different. And then I started teaching maritime courses then decided, oh, I don't want to teach K through 12. I like working with adults, and I like teaching maritime stuff. And then I went back to grad school and got a master's degree. It was around that time that I started to think hard about what to do next. So, I decided to test for the Pilot Association. I've been working on that for a few years, and I went back to sailing to fit my employment around my pilot training. And so here we are. But no, and I didn't when I started 24 years ago, where it was going to go, but I'm very grateful. And it's been an amazing career and a job that's worked well for me.

Jenny Johnson: Looking to the future, what’s next for you?

Christine: Back to Alaska to hopefully finish my pilot training.

Jenny Johnson: Tell me more about that. Your pilot training.

Christine: I got accepted into the Southeast Alaska Pilot Association's training program when I took the exam. It starts with a written exam. And once you meet the minimum score on the written exam, then go on to a simulator exam. If you pass the score on the simulator exam, then you're put on a list, and people are then called to start training as they need people. Then I started my training on the 4 Year Plan, meaning I couldn't finish my pilot training quicker than 4 years. I was working full time at the school and taking leaves of absence to come up and ride the ferries, to have the time to draw my pilotage, and then Covid happened, and so I lost about a year and a half of training. At the end of 2020. I left teaching full time and started shipping out so that I could then spend longer up in Alaska, doing more of my training. And now I'm just at the tail end of it, with a little bit left to go. I hope to be licensed in July, and work the rest of the summer as a pilot.

Jenny Johnson: Oh my gosh! That is so exciting, what a dream! Congratulations!

Christine: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Jenny Johnson: You and I have collaborated in the past on crew training. What are the training topics available if someone wanted to bring you in to work with their crew?

Christine: Sure, I love talking about the human element. Things like bridge resource management, leadership, emotional intelligence, and bystander intervention. I love being able to use my own personal experience to bring topics to life.

Jenny Johnson: Christine, thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. It has been an absolute pleasure. I look forward to collaborating with you in the future. Good luck on finishing up your pilot training. I could not be more excited for you!

Anyone interested in learning more about mariner training can reach Captain Christine at christine.klimkowski@gmail.com