Capt. Scott Dupriest, Tennessee Valley Towing
Capt. Scott Dupriest is a captain with Tennessee Valley Towing on the mv. Tom Freeman, a twin-screw 3,450 hp. boat built by Marine Welding & Repair Works in Greenville, Miss., that TVT has operated since 2017. Like many river captains, Dupriest grew up in a family with towboating connections. His mother was a towboat cook, and his uncle worked on towboats, as did his stepfather for a time.
But Dupriest’s own path to the wheelhouse was anything but typical. Dupriest was born in Paducah, Ky., and raised in Grand Rivers. One particular boat linked his entire family. The twin-screw, 4,300 hp. mv. Agnes Mae—now the Linda Little—was built in 1975 by Mississippi Marine Towing and was operated for years by Walker Towing Company. It was the first boat his mother worked on as a cook, Dupriest said. Coincidentally, the Linda Little was also the first boat Dupriest worked on when he began decking for Crounse Marine. Even stranger, Dupriest later learned that it was the first boat his uncle worked on in 1977 when it was operated by Walker Marine before being renamed in 2004 by Crounse.
Was the universe trying to tell his family something? “I guess there must have been a reason why we all worked on that boat,” Dupriest said.
His stepfather also had a towboat connection. He had worked for Illinois Central Railroad, but when he was laid off during the downturn of the early 1980s, he turned to working on towboats as well, before joining the Paducah & Louisville Railroad, from which he retired.
During those towboat years, Dupriest said, “My mother and stepfather used to see each other in passing. It was not easy, but they made it work.” To be completely honest, Dupriest said, the family separation involved in this lifestyle sometimes “sucks.” “But in this part of the world, there aren’t many career paths that don’t require a college degree, where you can advance yourself to making six figures by the time you turn 30,” he added.
Dupriest was partly raised by a grandmother, who used to take him to visit locks on the Tennessee River to see his parents when their boats were locking through.
“I used to climb aboard the boats and visit,” he said. “I also rode delivery boats operated by J.S. Deweese, taking groceries to the towboats. And I would ride my bike to Barkley Lock to visit with the lockmasters. Mamaw would wait in the car while I climbed all over the lock walls. That was all pre-9/11. Nowadays, of course, you can’t do that!”
Despite all those happy memories and towboating connections, Dupriest himself didn’t find his own way onto towboats until he was 33 years old. Before that, “I worked construction jobs, in factories and did a lot of other things,” he told The Waterways Journal.
Capt. Larry Powell of Savannah, Tenn., was an early mentor who encouraged him. Becoming a captain wasn’t Dupriest’s plan, at least not right away. In fact, he initially focused on the engineroom, since on Crounse boats, engineroom personnel also did some decking. But he promised his wife he would study for the wheelhouse.
Once Dupriest made up his mind, his progress was rapid. He earned his license at the River School combined with radar courses at Davis Marine in 2014. He remembers Crounse’s frequent training meetings among deck and engine crews fondly.
“You need that hands-on training,” he said. “I’ve taken some of the online courses from the Seamen’s Church Institute, and they have their place, but you really need that in-person training.”
Another important friend and mentor, he said, was Capt. Gerald “Skeeter” Hart at Marquette.
Dupriest spends most of his time on the Tennessee River, where he logged all of his hours as a steersman trainee. It’s his favorite river, with the Ohio River a close second. His barges carry all kinds of cargoes, from chemicals to soybeans, scrap metal, oil and steel. He has made trips up the Cumberland, Black Warrior and other rivers, which he also likes because they are not very crowded. “You may not see another boat for three or four days on those rivers,” he said.
Dupriest remembers his first “turned loose” job, when he was piloting on his own. It involved a trip up the Mississippi River to Festus, Mo., to pick up a tow to be dropped off at Memphis, back up to Festus, then up the White River to Little Rock, Ark. He has worked on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between New Orleans and Orange, Texas, but didn’t care for it.
“I’m not a canal pilot,” he said.
What makes him the most nervous on the river, Dupriest said, are recreational boaters who don’t observe safety procedures or follow the rules of the road.
“They often don’t understand the size of these boats with tows, or what it takes to stop one of these things or turn it around, even after we see you,” he said. “On shore, you wouldn’t try to outrun a train at a railroad crossing, and you shouldn’t think you can outmaneuver a towboat, either. Just steer clear and be safe.”
Dupriest’s youngest son Eli is following in his footsteps, having acquired his Transportation Workers Identification Card (TWIC) at age 17 and decked for TVT for three years already. He earned his steersman’s license last October.
