You know you're in good hands when boarding a Golden Gate Ferry because of individuals like Todd Nelligan, an extremely qualified vessel master (in other words, captain) who's been manning Golden Gate's helms for over 15 years. Nelligan's career as a captain spans about 30 years on 46 different passenger vessels, some of which had up to 1,000 people on board.
When not at the helm of a Golden Gate Ferry, Captain Todd Nelligan prefers to spend time outdoors with his two children, Natalie and Adam. Recently they visited the Deck, an observation deck at Heavenly Valley. Photo by Peter Solimene
By Matt Larson
Published: April, 2016
You know you’re in good hands when boarding a Golden Gate Ferry because of individuals like Todd Nelligan, an extremely qualified vessel master (in other words, captain) who’s been manning Golden Gate’s helms for over 15 years. Nelligan’s career as a captain spans about 30 years on 46 different passenger vessels, some of which had up to 1,000 people on board. He’s toured passengers through Canada sightseeing black bears and grizzly bears, he’s qualified to pilot a 500-ton passenger boat on any ocean in the world, and he’s trained on everything from celestial navigation to radiological defense—there’s basically nothing Nelligan can’t handle.
Preparation via training has been Nelligan’s top priority over the years. In fact, he’s one of the founding designers of the San Francisco Vessel Mutual Assistance Plan, a plan that provides a more efficient response to a potential mass casualty event in the marine environment. Since attaining his captain’s license, he’s been actively continuing his training and education over the years, preparing for as many potentially life-threatening scenarios as possible.
Nelligan is certified in helicopter firefighting, damage control, advanced first aid and first response, cliff and water rescue and much more. Despite the fact that he sees a “very slim possibility” of encountering many of these scenarios, Nelligan said, “Any kind of emergency is something that you can train in and think about as a captain.”
Nelligan has participated in all four recent ferry emergency response drills, which have been run by Golden Gate Ferry with assistance from the California Maritime Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and up to 40 local, state and federal agencies. For the last one, held in January this year, Nelligan served as the senior planner and coordinator. “It is a huge team effort to put on these exercises,” he said. “I find it amazing that my bosses at Golden Gate Transit take the time to put on such ambitious exercises; they don’t have to, and yet they provide these enormously valuable training opportunities. My crew and my passengers are safer because of it.”
The calm, relaxing atmosphere that we’ve grown accustomed to on the ferry boats can be directly attributed to captains and deckhands taking their jobs so seriously. It is extremely rare that anything goes wrong while cruising the Bay on one of Golden Gate’s ferries, and they’ve got the track record to prove it—but why not make a safe situation even safer? Nelligan believes it is crucial to train in emergency response. “If it really happens, it can be hard for a crew member to not get tunnel vision, focusing on one victim and missing the big picture,” he said. “We’ve been training and practicing for many years now and it’s pretty enlightening.”
A Petaluma resident, Nelligan will soon be moving back to his hometown of Santa Rosa as early as this month with his two kids, Natalie and Adam, ages 10 and 11. Though he’s moving to a new house, you’ll rarely find Nelligan inside of it. Chances are he and his kids are outside camping, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking, skiing or going to the Exploratorium. “We’re a pretty outdoor family,” he said. “We definitely love getting out in the environment around us rather than sitting in the house.” Perhaps being a single dad of two attributes to his passion for safety on the job, and love for his work.
“Although I have been a captain for about three decades, I continue to enjoy the passengers and working on the beautiful waters of the San Francisco Bay,” he said. And he couldn’t be happier working for Golden Gate, as it shares his same safety ideal. “For over 45 years Golden Gate Ferry has manned most of its vessel’s wheelhouses with two captains, instead of one captain and one deckhand,” he said. “Golden Gate understands that these highly complex, sophisticated high-speed craft require a dynamic, well-trained bridge team.” So again, with people like Todd Nelligan at the helm, feel free to sit back and relax in the comfort and safety of a Golden Gate Ferry.
