Asher nudged the bow up to the stern of a four-barge tow loaded with scrubber stone destined for the power plant in Lively Grove, Ill. With the towboat faced up, deckhands Jason McConnell and Zack Dill hoisted lock lines over their shoulders and headed for the bow of the tow to prepare for the Jerry F. Costello Lock, six miles downriver, at the mouth of the Kaskaskia River.
Just above the Kaskaskia, Asher turned the tow and backed down with the current. “When I get abreast of the mouth I’ll just twist the tow in there,” he said. “If we don’t do it this way, we’d have a whole different story. The current would put us on the point below the mouth.”
Arriving at the mouth, Asher applied power and rudder and, taking advantage of the current, turned the tow into the river. He pushed the throttles forward and entered the Kaskaskia.
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Mariner's role still unknown as autonomous shipping gains speed
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