Hull tug boat captain grew up in the business

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Gary Higgins/The Patriot Ledger

Acushnet Marine owner Michael McDevitt grew up on Peddocks Island. As for his career, he says he “couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

By Gary Higgins The Patriot Ledger Posted Aug 10, 2011 @ 04:48 AMLast update Aug 10, 2011 @ 02:27 PM

"I must have salt water in my blood,” Mike McDevitt says from the helm of his 26-foot workhorse push boat as he and a crew of four pass Boston Light.

Having departed from Pemberton Point in Hull, they are guiding a barge loaded with construction and food concession vehicles that service the Boston Harbor islands.

Today’s trips will take him to Georges Island, where the deliveries will include a truck full of fresh seafood from Jasper White’s Summer Shack restaurant. The meals and treats are for visitors to the island, which is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

Raised on Peddocks Island, where his parents were caretakers, McDevitt and his siblings went to Hull by boat every day to attend the public schools.

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“No matter the season, we traveled everywhere by boat,” he said. “My dad taught us to respect the water. As soon as we could swim, he put us in life jackets and taught us how to push boats around with a tug.”

McDevitt, a brother and two sisters, all tug captains, may have had other natural reasons for being inclined toward the vocation.

Their late mother, Judy A. McDevitt, captained large tugs across the Northeast for years.

“My mother was the first lady tug captain,” McDevitt said. “She pushed boats back and forth as far as the St. Lawrence Seaway and Halifax, Nova Scotia.”

After a second delivery to Georges Island, McDevitt steers his boat toward Quincy to escort a barge carrying a large crane into the Fore River shipyard.

“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” he said