Down To The Sea In Ships

"It's a humbling experience," Sebring resident Fred Carino says of standing on the bridge of a Naval warship. He was a full commander and as the ship's captain he had responsibility for the 445-foot-long frigate, the USS Robert E. Peary, and the 325 men it took to keep her seaworthy and battle ready.

"There is no one to ask questions of," he said almost to himself. "You have full responsibility."

But the sturdily built man, who sports a fashionable mustache, was no stranger to ships. By the time he assumed command of the Peary he had years of experience serving aboard warships. His first assignment was as weapon's officer aboard a modest 165-foot-long patrol gunboat - the USS Tacoma. He was one of four officers out of a crew of 28.

"That was a fun assignment," he recalls. "It was the closest you could get to McHale's Navy."

During his years on sea duty he served aboard six ships, although he sailed on over 100 ships as a training officer. He was tossed about at times by typhoons and a couple of hurricanes while experiencing angry seas that spawned 25- to 35-foot waves.

Carino's odyssey began back in 1969 when a long-haired teenager with some Cherokee and Choctaw blood coursing through his veins entered the University of California at Berkley. Abandoning his long hair he joined the Naval ROTC.

"I looked like a shaved peach," he said referring to his submission to the regulation haircut. But it was worth it. In 1973 the native of Oroville, Calif., graduated with a degree in rhetoric and was presented with the gold bars of a Naval Ensign. He also received orders to report to Guam.

Career Paths

Any military career takes a number of twists and turns with, at times, unexpected results. Early in his rise through the ranks, the well-groomed sailor went to the Junior Officers Club in Rhode Island where he met a young lady named Pat, who was destined to become his wife.

They've been married for 28 years. Pat's father, who was a retired chief warrant officer, had discovered Highlands County, which eventually led the Carinos to settle in Sebring following Fred's retirement from the military.

Of Carino's 25-year military career, a total of 14 were spent on sea duty. During the other years he led a rather active military life as both an instructor and a student.

Included in his assignments was being stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia where he oversaw the training of 25 officers from foreign countries, serving as a Naval recruiter in Seattle and a tour of duty at the Pentagon.

As a student, Carino attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces where he studied logistics of national resources, earning a master's degree in public administration.

The studies fortified his already impressive resume and allowed the retired commander to assume the responsibilities of human resources director for Highlands County under Carl Cool, a position he held for 12 years until his retirement two years ago.

The Latest Chapter

Leaving the security of his county job opened the door for the still young 57-year-old to return to the sea. Last year he established BoatDrivers.Net - a boat delivery company.

Of course before he could get his license from the Coast Guard, the career seaman who had accumulated 4,400 "sea days" before the mast, had to attend an extensive 13-week class at the Chapman School of Seamanship in Stuart.

"There is a difference between docking a Naval frigate and a 54-foot yacht or a 43-foot cigarette boat," Carino remarked with a smile. And he is quick to admit that the school was a learning experience for him. After all, the school has 45 different boats available for instructing their students. None of which are war ships.

After graduation from Chapman's, he eventually received his master's license from the U.S. Coast Guard which allows him to captain vessels up to 100 tons.

Now armed with a license, which is prominently displayed in his home office, the businessman's short-term goal is to move about one vessel or ship a month (the Coast Guard considers anything under 65 foot a vessel).

So far he has had nine contracts ranging from an 80-foot, two-storied houseboat that he moved within the Great Lakes, to pleasure craft, both power and sail driven, piloted along the Atlantic seacoast and down to the Caribbean.

His longest delivery thus far has been 1,800 miles; although he currently is bidding, through an agent, on a job to transport a 125-foot tanker from Sweden to Nigeria. He did, however, pass on joining with a friend in a contract to move a ship from Kuwait to Nigeria because the route, which went around the tip of South Africa, passed through two notoriously modern day pirate infested areas. The ship's only fortification was an AK47.

The Carinos' home is on Lake Jackson; so in between contracts he is able to keep his sailing skills honed by practicing in his own backyard.