Buddy Cantrelle  was born in 1960 and began to work as a deckhand on a tug when he was 16. After graduating from high school, he signed up with Gulf Fleet Marine, now called Tidewater, which is the largest marine service company in the world. Buddy worked his way up to captain in two years and at 20 years old was the youngest captain in the fleet. He worked offshore from 1977-1993, working for various tug transport companies on the East coast and overseas.