07/22/2026
Meet the leverman: the seat that runs the dredge.
Tucked in the pilothouse, working the levers that swing the ladder and drive the cutter head, the leverman turns a dredge plan into a dug channel one cut at a time. It is part instinct, part instrument, and all skill. The people who master it are some of the most capable hands on the water, and it takes years in the seat to get there.
Eighty years in, it is still one of the proudest jobs in the Mike Hooks fleet.