Piper Alpha

[Marian Gray]

'Dear Marian,
Would you kindly remind members of this site that on the night of 6th July thirty five years ago 167 poor souls died in the Piper Alpha disaster.
Two of the dead were Merchant Navy seamen who were engulfed by flames along with oilmen who they had put aboard their rescue craft.
Look after yourself my dear,
All the best from
John.'

Also Vernon I sent a request on behalf of FOURO to admin in May I think it was? - to say that John had forgotton his password and could someone please send him an invite. For whatever reason it didn't materialise so if you don't mind can I leave it with you. Thank you.

[Doc Vernon]

Thank you Marian, that was a terrible Disaster to say the least! Lest we Forget! Thanks Fouro.

Marian i did nt receive any message but as i have said before at times i dont know why if a message is sent to just Admin, i seem to not get some reasons unknown!
I will see now what i can do for Fouro
Cheers

Have contacted Fouro hopefully with correct Email address as Emails do change at times and we are not notified ??
Will see if he Logs on in the near Future!
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Fouro all the crew apart for 1.5 persons of the Siver Pit that night were Scotsmen , maybe it’s true what they say that they lived a charmed life, maybe it’s all that Porridge they eat, . The only exceptions was Old Wally Murchison the mate who was an ex Fleetwood fisherman and myself was the half a one .wally was 69 at the time so if still alive today would be 104. Dundee Jim was from his nickname from the same place to distinguish him from the other licensed boat coxn newly joined by a crew change a couple of hours before the first explosion from one of the isles off the west coast . The other 2 fairly new to the game if not first trippers in that kind of work one of whom said to the coxn God ! Is it like this every night to which the reply from the coxn Naw !!! Only every second night. The chief from the Glasgow area and the second from the NE Scottish area. Dundee Jim is no longer with us as died at an earlier age , he didn’t last as long as he should have. Marian May have told you as she informed me. Whatever you have read about in the media there were only 3 boats and the Silver Pit itself involved in picking up people from the water, if others say they were there then they must have been on the other side of the platform . The only vessel close in was the Maersk Runner and she had her fire monitors on, and of course the biggest floating fire engine in the world at the time who previous to the explosions had had a gangway out to the Piper Alpha. I am sure you are aware of these facts not from the media itself but from other observers at the time , ideally it would of been one or two from the 15 who were up close and personal. Hope this finds you well and fit as noticed you have been conspicuous by your absence from the site lately ,is it just the old age catching up ? All the best anyway and good to see your memory is ok on most things .Cheers JS...

[Fouro]

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know that yesterday the 6th July 2023 was the 35th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster when 167 poor souls lost their lives two of whom amongst them were .merchant navy seamen who died whilst rescuing oilmen after putting them àboard their rescue craft which was engulfed in flames.
May they all R.I.P.

Fouro.

[j.sabourn]

Fouro after a lot of thought I thought this year as a lot of people are forgetful I thought would put out feelers. Talking to the barmaid in the club house on who was the author of the Village monthly newsletter for the village , she gave me a name and I asked her was he still looking for stories to put in his news letter, and she said yes. so the next time I saw her I gave her a box full of all what I have put on here in the past plus statements made to various authority’s and said he could look through them to see if there was anything appropriate . This months news letter has been printed and nothing in it , so will have to see the barmaid again and ask for all the paperwork to be returned intact. There is I think about 145 villas on the site and many English people and I thought they might of been interested in . The barmaid was living in England at the time and she had never heard of it , so was all for the printout as a reminder. There was an awful lot of reading matter in the box so maybe that may of put the editor off as he is not a professional. I should of presented 1 page audited by myself . Or he might think of printing something next year . Anyhow will ask for my papers back next time in the office. Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John.
I was a delegate on a big job, and had the task of printing a weekly news letter. All well and good for an novice, My wife used to do a Precis I think one calls it, cut it down in size without losing the nounce, maybe that is what you need to do.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Des and Fouro . Have taken your advice Des and just sent the following to RAAFA Mercury.
A Belated Requiem for a Disaster on July 6th. 1988.
As I was tardy in getting this msg. Off in time for the July issue of the Mercury , one will have to go back 1 month for it to mean anything , if it is decided to print. On this date at approx.2200 hrs BST take 3 minutes either side of, an explosion occurred at the Piper Alpha Oil and Gas Production Platform in the North Sea , and in the next 3 hours 167 men lost their lives . 21 bodies were never recovered . At the time there were 229 living breathing human beings on board. Among those killed outright were 2 of the 15 hands on rescuers .I have managedover the years to get back once for the annual Rememberance Service which is held in an Aberdeen Park , it was the 30th. This year up to now have seen no reference to it in the British papers.I don’t think these men died to be forgotten , I hope not, they deserve better than that . Their partners and families their lives also changed and some of their hurt and loss may still be raw so will not dwell on how some died . Anyhow July 6 th.is a very special day for a lot of people .
I hope they are still able to look down on us mere mortals that they realise they are not forgotten .
John William Sabourn.

[Marian Gray]

Hello John, It was on the STV News here and mentioned in the local papers in Aberdeen.

Tried to obtain the live link but got this instead.

https://news.stv.tv/north/piper-alph...shore-disaster

[j.sabourn]

That’s one of Paul Berriffs shots Marian . Him and his partner who made the documentary were very nice people and obviously sincere in their intentions. I was staying in knaresborough with relations he drove me from there to Hull where the museum on the River had an old Icelandic trawler being renovated he used that for the second interview no speaking on it , it was wired in to the speaking interview done previously .This was not seen together with myself which I didn’t lose any sleep over as didn’t want to do in the first place .They sold it to Scottish tv who wanted me to return to uk and alter some of my statements which I had no intention of doing as told Paul before we started .Anyhow from Hull he drove me all the way to Whitley Bay way out of his way. He also filmed the twin towers in N. Y. When they came down . He must be well retired by now. Think he was awarded the OBE on retirement or better known as Other Bastards Efforts .He was also a BAFTA award winner. His partner was and probably still is a well known Scottish journalist for a well known newspaper can’t remember his name off the cuff so as soon as send this will probably remember I do know it was his wedding anniversary when he was interviewing me , he did all the verbal stuff Paul all the filming . They seemed a bit above the ambulance chasers . I sent him a wedding anniversary card as consolation to him and his wife. He also wrote a book about it but was more on the engineering and truthful side of things , he gave me a signed copy of it he said to me he wished he had seen my statements before he wrote it.I never read it right through and passed it on to other marine colleagues . The book was mainly on interviews with rig people. Cheers JS....

[James Curry]

I am sure I never heard it mentioned on the news programmes but it has been on social media feeds. What a world we live in there is still a reference about the Billionares who went to visit the Titanic but 167 men lost on the Piper Alpha or the 500+ refugees no money in it for news outlets so why bother, sad world we live in.
Just wonder how long the service of rememberance will be aired on TV before the money men cut that and it just becomes a 30 second slot on the news.