Texas Chicken

http://www.kingwoodkowboy.com/

Texas Chicken isn't for the faint of heart.
But for vessels headed in opposite directions
on the Houston Ship Channel, it's the only way
to pass. The trick involves water pressure.
The scary part is that ships have to head right
at each other for it to work. Setting a course
for a head-on collision would unnerve most mariners,
but it's a beloved tactic on the 53-mile-long
Houston Ship Channel, the only place in the world
where Texas Chicken is used. The water displaced
by the bows of the ships moves them away
from each other and toward the sides of the
40-foot-deep channel, then the suction of the
displaced water flowing in behind the ships
naturally pulls them back to the center.
Pilots say the people most frightened by
Texas Chicken are the captains of deep sea ships
docking at the Port of Houston for the first time.

Texas Chicken (Larry W. Jones 01/27/2007) (song#4362)

Hey, let's play Texas Chicken
Said the captain to the bosun
Line up in the Houston Ship Channel
In the middle where it's chosen

Call that inbound blue water captain
Tell him to line that freighter up right
Now, when I steer left, you steer left
It's more fun in the middle of the night

Now, Texas Chicken is the dance they do
When big wide ships meet in the middle
Of the Houston Ship Channel two by two
Like playin' a line dance to a fiddle

That ship channel ain't wide enough
And your stomach it's sure to sicken
You need a pilot who's Texas tough
Steering a ship to the Texas Chicken

Now, the waves at the bow where both ships plow
Pushes them both to the sides of the channel
Then the flow from the stern sucks them back
To the middle when the pilot plays the fiddle

- instrumental -

Hey, let's play Texas Chicken
Said the captain to the bosun
Line up in the Houston Ship Channel
In the middle where it's chosen

Call that inbound blue water captain
Tell him to line that freighter up right
Now, when I steer left, you steer left
It's more fun in the middle of the night
Doin' the Texas Chicken!