Call this a love story. There’s the guy-gone-to-sea. He loves traveling. He loves adventure. There are landlubbers who love following the guy’s experiences via social media. It’s a love story for those in Hamilton who miss the guy, like he misses them; because, as he said in an interview, “life is meant to be shared.”
Meet Joe Franta, Hamiltonian by birth and education; Hamiltonian during respites on land. And, since 2016, a Hamiltonian who has been working as a union seafarer, a job he transitioned to at the age of 31. He’s also a widely-viewed vlogger on YouTube with thousands of subscribers to his channel called: “Joe Franta. Ship.”
Franta attended Our Lady of Sorrows school in Hamilton; he’s a 2003 graduate from Notre Dame High School in Lawrence. He went on to Mercer County Community College where he took classes, including one in videography.
For those unfamiliar with the term vlog, and the social media platform, YouTube, here’s a quick tutorial. The “V” in vlog means video. Instead of keeping a written log, diary, or a journal, a vlogger (the person creating the vlog) documents life using videos. YouTube is a site where Vloggers can create their own channel–like a television channel–then, people can subscribe to the channel to watch the vlogger’s videos.
Franta didn’t finish Mercer. He took a road trip in a van; loved the journey and moved on. He continued honing his storytelling skills with a YouTube channel–Joe Franta RV.
He went to work for Ritchie and Page, the Robbinsville-based beer distributor. Franta was the guy with a CDL behind the wheel of a semi-tractor trailer. He loaded cases of brew; drove the highways of NJ; unloaded the cargo, then returned to the warehouse. He recalled in a video: “It was a great job. Good money, pension, vacation, sick days, weekends off.” He worked with his brother and friends. They played together on weekends. Life was good.
So what happened?
Franta said, “For some reason, I just snapped. I couldn’t do the rat race anymore.” He decided to change careers. He remembered the trip in the van from his college days, and thought about making a living by vlogging stories about traveling in an RV. He soon realized there were lots of vloggers in the RV world.
He looked for other options; and, Bingo. “I found a school, got into the school; sold my stuff; quit my job, and I left,” Franta said in a vlog titled: “9-5 Job to Sailing to RV Life.”
The school he enrolled in? The Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship, “a vocational school dedicated to preparing students for successful careers as U.S. Merchant Mariners,” according to the school’s website. The school is named after the first president of the Seafarer’s Union. Described as a “powerful man with outspoken convictions” in a United Press story, Harry Lundeberg died of a heart attack at the age of 56. The United Press article noted that the “Norwegian-born Lundeberg… fought his way up from a deckhand on a square-rigged sailing ship to undisputed boss of the nation’s largest seamen’s union.”
The union’s campus is located in Piney Point, MD, on 60 acres, along the lower Potomac River, across from Richmond, Virginia. The apprenticeship program trains people to live and work on US Maritime ships. Think large ships which sail around the world making deliveries. Graduating from the school, and passing required tests, qualifies someone to become a union seafarer.
Graduates choose their assignments–called hitches–from a list of potential union jobs. For Franta, deciding which job depends on lots of variables. He explained his options in a Vlog titled: “How Much I Make Working On Ships.” Suffice it to say, some voyages pay better than others. Depending on the ship’s assignment, Franta can be working any number of jobs while at sea. He could be gone for weeks, or months. In order to maintain his union healthcare benefits, he has to work at least 125 days a year. He gets to see the world.
When asked to describe the makeup of ship crews, Franta used the word melting pot. “There are lots of guys from the Philippines, from Yemen, and Honduras,” he said. Since 9-11, mariners must obtain a TWIC–a Transportation Worker Identification Credential–through the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
“The hardest part of the job,” Franta said, “is to get the proper credentials. There’s a lot of red tape.”
But then Franta talked about how sleeping on a ship can be difficult, which sounded more challenging than paperwork. If a mariner is up all night, sleeping during the day requires a dark room and maybe some melatonin.The beds look sized for small children, not adults. Franta said his feet hang over the edge.
And, large ships roll on open waters. Franta highlighted the mariner trick of wedging oneself in bed by using a life preserver and a rolled-up, full-body, neoprene jumpsuit called a gumby suit. Honestly, after watching his videos, one concludes it takes a strong body and a strong spirit to be a mariner.
Franta was aboard a ship docked on the South Island of New Zealand when we spoke. The end point of that hitch was Antarctica–an eight day sail from New Zealand. While in New Zealand, an ice pilot joined the crew. An ice pilot, according to the U.S. Coast Guard helps guide the ship through “different types of polar ice, such as pack ice (free-flowing, unattached ice such as icebergs or ice floes) and fast ice (grounded icebergs or sea ice attached to the coast or seafloor).” A ship called an icebreaker led Franta’s ship through the frozen waters to Antarctica and back to New Zealand.
While Franta works long hours at sea, he still finds time to record sea stories. In a vlog titled “Food on Ships” a viewer sees Franta on deck with a rod and reel. “Yes,” he says, “we do fish.” And you fishermen out there will love seeing the 44-lb Black Marlin one sailor caught off the coast of Costa Rica. Yes, it was dinner that night.
Franta keeps his cameras close. Sailing on a metal ship means he has magnets on his GoPro cameras so he can mount them anywhere. He uses his phone. He carries a DJI Mavic 3 drone. He has a computer and a mic. Franta started his YouTube channel in April of 2021 where he has posted more than sixty Vlogs. And what began as “a hobby” he said, grew into a following.
Many of Franta’s viewers sailed as mariners–working sailors; but he also has viewers wanting to learn about his job. He enjoys connecting with this online community. Subscribers often post comments. Franta has a Vlog titled “Launching the Free Fall Lifeboat.” The Free Fall Lifeboat flies off the ship from a railing into the sea.
“Joe, I really love your channel,” wrote one of the 50 thousand viewers of that video. “I like your authentic style, good writing, and compelling sense of storytelling. I’ve introduced my dad to it. At 96, he’s not really much into YouTube, but he was a Merchant Mariner in World War II. Radio operator. Slightly more danger involved. He loves watching your posts – especially the one about Merchant Mariner Academy. Thank you.”
In the Vlog “Tour of the Captain’s State Room” the ship’s captain takes Franta and viewers on a tour of his quarters. One viewer posted under that video: “I have a teenage grandson who just graduated HS and was thinking about joining the service and now is thinking about merchant marine after watching your videos.”
In two years, Franta gained 100,000 subscribers to his channel. In recognition of that feat, last fall, YouTube sent Franta a plaque celebrating his success. Since then, he has added 10,000 more.
His loyal fans wanted souvenirs; Franta created an online store, The Slop Chest. For mariners, the slop chest is the ship store where they buy clothing or necessities.
During an interview via Instagram, which took place across two time zones and the International Dateline, Franta admitted his sailing days may soon come to an end. He is not unlike Santiago, the character in Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Eventually, Santiago realized,“no one should be alone in their old age.”
“I am starting the transition out of sailing,” Franta said. “There’s a million things I love about this job. But, it’s a lonely life. I would like to have a family one day. And, I miss my nephew so much when I am out here.” Franta’s 91-year-old grandmother, Mary Krisanda, still lives locally.
He also finds himself yearning for a special slice of Hamilton. “I know when it’s time to come home when I’m craving JoJo’s pizza,” Franta laughed. “It’s the first meal I have when I return.”
YouTuber Joe Franta’s face reflected in the plaque he received for reaching 100,000 subscribers. Franta makes videos about life as a Merchant Mariner. (Instagram photo.),
