Dundee Jimmy

[Louis the fly]

I was once on a supply ship off the Italian coast in support of an Odecco jack - up exploration rig, we were working for the oil company AGIP.
The cook was Dundee Jimmy, no not a cook, a Masterchef, a culinary artist. I have never before or since enjoyed such delicious food, he also used to bake fresh bread every day with rolls and trays of beautiful tabnabs. We were all pleasantly plump except for one man, the 2nd engineer, who was living on cornflakes and toast.
As soon as Jimmy set eyes on the engineer he formed an immediate and intense hatred for the man even though they had never met or spoken before.
Our messroom was self service but Jimmy also prepared plated meals which were sent to the pantry above in the dumb waiter. One plate was covered with tin foil with a note on top " 2nd engineer " . The engineer was convinced Jimmy was trying to poison him so he never ate the food.
Jimmy was a workaholic also obsessive about cleanliness, long after he should have finished for the night he was in the galley cleaning and polishing while talking and arguing with himself. He made it clear through his actions that no one but him was allowed in the galley.
We were alongside in Ortona one day when Jimmy went ashore by himself and disappeared never to be seen again. We were devastated to lose him except for one man, the 2nd engineer .

[j.sabourn]

#1. Louis what sort of year are you talking about. I also know a Dundee Jim, however think he was called that to differentiate between him and another Jim from the Western Isles. Do you remember his full name? It is doubtful is the same man, but if you don't ask will never know. Cheers JS

[Louis the fly]

Hi John just checked my dis. book this was 1975. Cheers Lou

[j.sabourn]

The bloke I am referring to although not a cook at the time was in 1988 and was also offshore. Those working in that sphere were very adaptable and could do most jobs at sea. In fact one of the cox"ns of the FRC at the P.A. only hours before had taken off another vessel where he was the cook, and he was the other Jim. These were the only experienced boat handlers in that sphere of the Industry that composed the boat crew of the Silver Pit. As said of the other two one was ex Navy, and the other an ex fisherman on his first trip offshore in that mode. Both I believe never went back to sea. The two Jims did as sailed with both next trip and following trips up until I emigrated. Out here I sailed with a cook who had been on the Pennyworth one of Daggies ore carriers donks ago. The next ship I went on he was there as AB. Asked him why the change said he wanted a change of scenery, also sailed with his son also a ships cook who was having trouble with an ex wife and his old man asked me to write to the majistrates court. It was a small world then among seafarers alas it must now be almost non existent. Cheers JS

[Louis the fly]

With this company the leave system was two months on one month off. There were five AB's on deck we were all young, single and enjoying ourselves so much that we did not want to go home. We stayed for nine months until the exploration was finished and the rig moved on to it's next job.
For engineers it was always a problem getting off when their leave was due, they were told Andy Peacock would be relieving them but no one had ever seen this Andy Peacock as he never arrived. One of our engineers had gone way over his leave date when the ship received this message;
A peacock will be flying out to join you.

[j.sabourn]

Should of asked for a peahen. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

Regards the Jack Up Louis did your ship have to move it. I did a few moves of such out here and was surprised at the way they brought them on to station, not very scientific and probably frowned on if any accidents or damage occurred, but certainly cut back on the number of vessels required for a change of location. In brief on being towed to the new position, and bring the rig to a virtual standstill one of the legs would be lowered to a couple of feet off the seabed and dropped when almost in position this used to bring the rig to a halt so was only done at very slow speeds. There is a bit more to it than that, I only found this out when on the jack ups as tow master, when on the other end on the tug didn't realize how they took the way off the rig so fast. Whereas bringing a semi-submersible onto station was totally different as rig could be positioned by the usual minimum of 8 anchors laid out around it, some of the larger crucifix rigs having 12 anchors to lay at a distance of about a mile and sometimes further in deeper water, a long and drawn out job especially if got caught in bad weather. Like to see that job done by virtual surface vessels and virtual crews. Cheers JS

[Louis the fly]

Being on deck of a supply boat was the most dangerous job at sea, often your life depended on the skill of the Skipper and the rig crane driver especially in North Sea weather conditions.
As regards to rigs, Jack-up's were far easier to work with being lower in the water when the legs were raised. Once towed to position they could propel themselves to the drill location.
Semi submersible rigs are the height of a huge block of flats held in position, as you say, with a multitude of anchors. Positioning the anchors was a long, difficult and dangerous job, retrieving them when then rig when about to move was even harder with the anchors being buried in the sea bed.
The thing I enjoyed most about supply boats was the old deep sea barriers were broken down, small ships, small crew, no uniforms, every one on first name terms working together as a team.

[j.sabourn]

#8.If in 1975 you will have been in the era of pelican hooks and not the later sharks jaws then. No pop up pins and other labour saving devices when they worked. That's one of the reasons when youngsters asking for advice never suggest an anchor handler. Although much newer tonnage there now supposedly might still get the old time Anchor Handling supply vessel. We used to get them down here to work with in Australia, and for all the Unions of the past here, would have thought they would have knocked back, but were accepted, fortuanetley were mostly working in better weather conditions here. My introduction to such in the N.Sea was on the Wimpey Seawolf about 4000 HP. and the old towing bar across the stern which always had to be shored up with timber as was otherwise expected to collapse with the weight of the tow wire on. The old method of tying up to the rig disappeared in the early 80"s as couldn't drop an anchor due to all the well heads and machinery bits on the sea bed. So had to snatch trying to hold the ship in a seaway whilst pumping up commodities and discharging deck cargo. Not an easy job with some of the older vessels and were never up to the more modern Scandanavian vessels. However we managed to survive and live to fight another day. Not so now however it was all in vain. As a seafaring nation Britain is just about kaput. There will be many in Europe cheering under their breaths. As regards self propelled Jack Ups your one up on me never saw, all positioning was done by the Barge master by sight of eye and as tow master was there for insurance purpose mainly. On any semi sub coming on the coast out here any machinery spaces re propulsion were made redundant likewise, as tow master you were flown in and picked up the last anchor and then conducted the tow. On site, laid the first anchor and were flown off with deck crew you arrived with. All money and cost saving being the reason. I preferred being on the rig itself rather than master of the lead tug if two were used, I know which was the easiest job of the two. Cheers JS