Ton Mile Trader

Mike began his professional career as a lead singer in various southern rock bands in his early 20s. His hard driving, whiskey-soaked vocals made him quite popular on the live music circuit. He regularly wowed crowds at the legendary Fillmore East – and of course his home away from home, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. After tiring of the constant touring and hardscrabble existence, he traded in his cowboy hats, black and white, for a sextant and began a career at sea. Though only a deck hand upon signing articles on his first voyage, he soon discovered now commonly used navigation methods such as great circle sailing and GPS. In 1992 he was credited as the first person to circumnavigate the globe wearing a Mookie Wilson jersey. In 1994, after reading Conrad’s “Lord Jim”, Mike lost his affinity for life at sea and began a shore side career working side by side with chemical tanker legends Jim Byrne, Brian Van Aken and John Bailey. The knowledge overload took its toll, however, and Mike moved to the Garden District in New Orleans, where he currently resides at 711 Fern St. When he is not marketing FFAs to unsuspecting widows and orphans, he fills his spare time writing shipping blogs, regularly bowling 10 perfect frames at Rock and Bowl, and playing honky-tonk piano at the Maple Leaf bar on Oak St.