Chester J. Vikell decided early in life that working in his father's grocery store in Fells Point was not for him. As a teen-ager, he left school and ran away to sea.
For the next 40 years, he worked in the merchant marine and as a mate aboard tugboats in the Baltimore harbor, retiring in 1984.
Mr. Vikell died of cancer Saturday at Mercy Medical Center. He was 70 and lived in Carney.
"He always wanted to work on the water," said a daughter, Sharon Nelson of Carney, with whom he had lived since 1991.
After serving in the merchant marine during World War II, Mr. Vikell went to work for Baker-Whiteley Towing Co. and a successor company, McAllister Marine Towing of Baltimore. Tugboats on which he worked included the Grace, Holland, Resolute and America.
"He was one of the top mates in the company and was well-respected throughout the industry," said Manuel Alvarez, a retired marine engineer. "He was A-No. 1."
Said Capt. Charles "Chick" Rogers, a docking pilot: "He was very dependable, conscientious and an outstanding boat handler. He had a sense of pride in his work, and it showed."
For 63 years, Mr. Vikell lived in the house in the 900 block of Fell St. where he was born and where his father ran a grocery on the first floor. He felt most comfortable among the sights and sounds of the harbor.
Mornings, he was awakened by the steam whistles blowing from the tugs -- including the one on which he worked -- tied at the nearby Recreation Pier. His workdays were spent docking and undocking freighters or passenger ships at Sparrows Point, Port Covington and the Inner Harbor, or towing barges to Norfolk, Va., and Philadelphia.
"You couldn't find a better man. He was unflappable and never lost his composure even when the wind and weather were bad," said William H. Miller, a seaman who retired in 1984.
Mr. Vikell's name was unknown to most Baltimoreans even though for years he appeared regularly as the mate waving from the red wheelhouse of a tug in the introduction to the evening news telecasts on WJZ-TV.
When he was off duty and in retirement, he was a regular at Zeppie's Five Point Tavern, later John Steven Ltd., in Fells Point, swapping tales with retired co-workers and other seamen.
"Even though he had retired and moved out to Carney, he still went down there every day," said Mrs. Nelson.
Mr. Vikell's two marriages ended in divorce.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. today at St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church, 700 S. Ann St.
He is survived by two other daughters, Candy Jones of Parkville and Tina Fiedler of Virginia Beach, Va.; a stepson, Jerry Constantine of Baltimore; two brothers, Andy Smith and Albert Vikell, both of Baltimore; two sisters, Estelle Hanretty of Pasadena and Marie Morris of Dundalk; and four grandchildren.
Pub Date: 2/10/98
