Document 5knDj3kEnjXVmBjbg7O8V3GZ8

PUBLISHED BY THE MARINE DIVISION, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 5, No. 24 December 12, 1963 Company to Buy Tidewater Properties In 7 Western States Tidewater Oil Company and Humble Oil & Refining Company announced Nov. 27 that they have entered into an agreement for Humble to buy Tidewater's California refinery, its marketing facilities and certain of its transportation facilities in California, Washington. Oregon, Idaho, Ari zona. Nevada and Hawaii and five foreign super tankers for $329,000,000. Under the terms of the agreement. Tidewater retains title to all of its properties except those specifically mentioned. Hence. Tidewater will continue in the West. Mid Continent and Southern areas as an oil and gas producer and in the East as a refiner and marketer. By disposing of its western refining and market ing. Tidewater will obtain funds to reduce its substantial debt and to enable it to expand its production in the West and South and become a more effective competitor in its refining and marketing areas. Humble, by acquiring Tidewater's California refinery and marketing facilities, expects to be come a strong competitor in the West Coast markets. The Tidewater purchase will add 3.900 service stations in the area. Located at Avon. Calif., near San Francisco, the Tidewater refinery has a 135,000 b/d capacity. (Ulmsittms (Srattngs We extend sincere best wishes that the eternal Glad Tidings of Christmas will bring joy to the hearts of our seagoing men and their families, our annuitants and friends and that Good Health and Happiness will be yours in full measure through out the New Year. There are many details about the purchase still to be worked out and it is expected that the pur chase of the Tidewater properties on the Coast will be completed by March 31, 1964. Contract Amendment Rejected by ESA The Company was advised on Dec. 10 that Esso Seamen's Association members voted 103 to 48 to reject the proposed amendment to the current labor agreement. The amendment provided an assurance against layoff of any regular employee because of any change in crew' complement through the year 1964. It also provided wage increases for all un licensed men, retroactive to Sept. 1. Effective on the date of agreement there were to be increases in overtime pay for all ratings, particularly for tank cleaning. These tank cleaning rates were S2.42 per hr. for weekdays on watch, $3.63 per hr. weekdays off w'atch and S4.84 per hr. on Satur days, Sundays and holidays. A new section provided S2.47 per hr. to Pump men for repair w'ork over 8 hrs.. Monday through Friday and for any repair work on Saturdays. Sundays and holidays. Provisions affecting Steward's Dept, men in cluded increased pay for serving passengers, re pair gangs, extra meals in port and fnew) special pay for preparing Thanksgiving. Christmas and New' Year meals. The provision tying the number of men in the Steward's Dept, to the number of men in ship's complements would be eliminated. The present agreement between the Association and the Company remains in effect until Aug. 31, 1964. ' Time Running Out on Insurance Offer There are. as of this date, only 8 more shopping days before Christmas and only 19 more days before the deadline of the special one-time offer to obtain Contributory Group Life Insurance. This offer applies to about 400 men in the fleet who (Continued on page !) JUi iS ii* Igfe iO -- -< ' iC i. < tr. < :U X Ulgf p U. 7 2 OC f-- c5 PUvJJ EH EXX-MOR-007307 Bombay street scenes, sacred cows, above and Indian family, below. Photos by MM Curtis L. Gober U< 2 Ui (O<L !t S= ah >i<s LU <J xui Hfc v PS 'S'. C UJ 1 t-> uj It was a "glad to be back" crew that hustled about their duties, jockeyed their parcels of sou venirs through customs, signed off the ship's articles and made their presence known to the Ship's Payroll men after the Esso Scranton docked at Todd's Galveston shipyard at 1630. Nov. 23. All but 3 of the complement went ashore for at least 50 days' paid leave. The ship had just com pleted a 95-day round trip from Baytown to India, the Persian Gulf, Turkey and Greece. Although at times the voyage was a little rug ged, there were no complaints. It was rough cross ing the Atlantic, outward bound, hot in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf and mighty rough on the homeward Atlantic passage. "On one day we only averaged 3 knots," AB William P. Marvin said. Once while he was wrestling with the wheel to hold her on course. Captain Steward remarked waggishly, 'Tve seen worse, this is just annoying." That must have been about the time Second Cook Demetrios Georgiou lost a pan of potatoes but managed to save the spaghetti. When they arrived at Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf, crewmen were told that the weather had turned cool. The thermometer stood at 103 -- but the day before it had been up to 130c On the pleasant side, weather was fine in the Mediterranean and everyone who went ashore in Turkey and Greece enjoyed the visit. They found the people of both countries friendfy, neat and proud. Third Mates Ekman and Verlander and Second Asst. Sederberg went ashore at Derince, Turkey and drove to Izmit, which is about 60 miles east of Istanbul. They met a young man from Seattle, a member of the Peace Corps, who was an English teacher. The Scranton's stay at Salamis. Greece, was only 33 hours, which limited shore time. Some crewmen were able to go to Piraieus {the seaport ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the seagoing em ployees of the Marine Division. Humble Oil & Refining Co.: Joseph Andreae. General Manager; Sydney Wire. Assistant General .Manager. W. E. Gard ner. Editor. Contributions and suggestions are invited and should be addressed to The Editor. Esso Fleet News. Humble Oil & Refining Co., P. 0. Box 1512. Houston 1, Texas. EXX-MOR-007308 CClPiRU FROM THE COLLECTIONS IN THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTOK THE UNI VERSITY OF TEX'a s a t A u s t in Esso Scranton Complement Roger A. Steward Neo H. Robinson Adrian F. Boulay George W. Verlander Axel G. Ekman Master Ch. Mate 2nd Mate 3rd Mate 3rd Mate Thomas J. Bov Howard W. Menig Grant R. H. Sederberg Matthew L. Tingle, Jr. Ch. Engr. 1st Asst. 2nd Asst. 3rd Asst. Wallace A. Findlay Radio Offr. James M. Spinks Harry R. Goetz Francis O. Hanlon William P. Marvin Claude T. Landry George S. Mathis AB AB AB AB AB AB George W. Young OS Robert l. Goddard Doyle H. Sullivan OS OS John J. Voigt Pumpman Arthur E. Eidinger MM/2 Pmp. Clement J. J. DeGrood Walter V. Rosypal John F. Batkiewicz Oiler Oiler Oiler Jose P. DoVale Stephen Shelby Russell R. Lantz FWT FWT FWT John J. Fernandez Ch. Stew'd Simplicio S. Aganad Ch. Cook Demetrios Georgiou 2nd Cook Joao M. Lopes OM Curtis L. Gober CM John G. Steele UM Paulo F. Pimental UM for Athens) which they found modem and clean and Chief Engineer Bov and Radio Officer Find lay made it to the Greek capital. Other highlights of the trip were: Oiler C. J. J. DeGrood. who considers himself a pretty fair auto driver, had the most hair-raising, horn-tooting ride of his life in a Bombay taxi -- a 1939 Packard. AB Harry R. Goetz, who is (if he'll pardon the expression) a Mr. 5 x 4)4. was thought to be a rich man in India. In some parts there, anyone who looks well-fed is assumed to be wealthy. It was the general opinion of the crew that the ship's cooks "did a wonderful job". Souvenirs, with which almost everyone was loaded, included carvings, trinkets, jewelry, brass items and tailor-made clothing from India; cam eras, radios and binoculars from Aden (Japanesemade) and pottery vases and dishes from Greece. Esso Scranton Voyage Data Aug. 21 -- Left Baytown Sept. 10 -- Arrived Port Said Sept. 11 --Left Suez Sept. 16 -- Arrived Aden for bunkers. Left same day. Sept. 21--Arrived Bombay Sept. 25 -- Left Bombay Oct. 1--Arrived Houghly River (Calcutta) Oct 5 -- Left Houghly River . OBITUARY Stephen Chucalo, 69, retired Chief Engineer, died Nov. 21 in San Jose. Calif., where he had been living for the past 9 years. He is survived by his wife, Wil helmina. V A native of Latvia, Mr. Chu calo went to Argentina when he was 14 and later worked in Everett, Wash, and sailed with several dry cargo and tanker companies. He joined the Esso fleet on Dec. 7, 1931, serving as an Engineer Officer until his retirement, Nov. 3, 1952. During World War II he survived the bombing of the Esso Providence in Augusta, Sicily on Aug. 24, 1943 and from March 1944 to Feb. 1946 was Chief Engineer with W.E.T., Inc. James F. Kelley, 55, who retired only last August, died Nov. 30 in Baytown Hospital as a result of heart trouble. Most of his 15 years' service in the fleet was as Second and Chief Cook. He was bom in Mo. and lived in Baytown. , WORDS OF THE WISE If a man does not keep pace with his compan ions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far aw'ay -- Thoreau (Thanks to Leendert Don, Totowa, N. J.) Oct. 15 - Arrived Bahrein, loaded Navy Special Fuel Oil, left Oct. 16. Oct. -25 - - Arrived Suez Oct. 27- - Left Port Said Oct. 29- - (0712) Arrived Derince, Turkey, on the east ern arm of the Sea of Marmara, near Izmit. Discharged part cargo. Nov. 1 - - (0354) Left Derince. Nov. 1 - - (1730) Arrived Salamis, Greece. Discharged balance of cargo. Nov. 3 - - (0312) Left Salamis. Nov. 23- - Arrived Galveston. OS Robert t. Goddard k EXX-MOR-007309 TAFFRAIL TALK Captain Clarence S. Lee, Master of the Esso Chester, spent 3 weeks of his last paid leave at a hunting camp in Darlington, S. C. There were 15 persons in his group and they got 14 deer. Captain Lee enjoyed the outing (only saw one snake) but we would advise our readers to avoid the mistake we made of asking him how many deer he shot. * ** Third Mate Olav Haugevic was flown from the Esso Bangor to the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans by a Coast Guard heli copter on Nov. 17. He had a kidney operation and recovered sufficiently to return to his home in Franklin Square, L. I., on Dec. 4. * * 4c HowardA. Briles (ret. July 1) former Chief Mate and Master, is resident manager of the luxurious Cherry Creek Towers, a 15-story Den ver apartment building with "sculptured grounds, swimming pool and individual patios". Whereas Howard used to listen to the gripes of men in the ships, he now' listens to the women. "I think I prefer the men," he said. Tanker Quiz Answers Any of you fellers have twisted brains from struggling with the tanker quiz brain twister in the last Fleet News? If so, relax; here's the answer as worked out and submitted by Bobby M. Pouncey, Third Asst, in the Esso Washington. Joao B. Silvia, right, is starting to clean a lube oil strainer aboard the Esso Chester under the guidance of Third Asst. Robert B. Short. It was Mr. Silvia's first assignment as Oiler and those gages, thermometers, dip sticks and strainers have never received closer attention. He sailed as Wiper from Feb. 1957 to Feb. 1963 and joined the Chester after 2 berths as FWT. "He's alright," Mr. Short said; "he's interested and is doing a good job." In our book it's safe to assume from this volunteered comment that Mr. Short is alright, too, because there is nothing a good instructor enjoys more than an interested pupil. Bob has been FWT, Oiler and Third Asst, in the fleet since Sept. 1952 and was promoted to the Third Asst's seniority list this summer. .j .. .. ' K ! >> Position Color Cargo DWT. Pumps Master l Yellow Jet fuel 18,000 Horiz. recip. Nor. 2 Blue H. O. 27,000 Rotary Ukr. 3 Red Kero. 100,000 Centrif. Eng. 4 Ivory Crude 67,000 Vert. recip. Span. 5 Green Gas. 48,000 Deepwell Jap. There may be other ways to solve the problem but probably the best is to make a chart to set down all the data on each vessel. The specific answers to the questions in the quiz are -- the Norwegian Master has the jet fuel and the fifth vessel has the deepwell pumps. RECENT RETIREMENTS Chief Engineer William H. Ahrens, Senior Chief Engineer in the fleet, retired Nov. 1 lack ing just 10 days of achieving the 40-year service mark. As outstanding as his length of service was his well-known re sourcefulness, industry and in terest in "keeping the job up", as engineers say. Born in Germany 65 years ago, Mr. Ahrens went to sea in April, 1922 after working as a machinist in a German rifle factory. He sailed in several Norwegian and Ward Line vessels, then joined the Company's F. Q. Barstow as Oiler on May 29, 1923. He advanced to Machinist the following year and to Third Asst, in the Wm. G. Warden in March 1926. After his promotion to Chief Engineer of the W. L. Steed on May 13. 1936. Mr. Ahrens served throughout World War II in this rank and, begin ning in Feb. 1944. was regular Chief in the Esso Annapolis for over 16 years. He was assigned to the Esso Baltimore in June 1960, v'hile the super tanker was still under construction, and was her regular Chief until his retirement. Mr. Ahrens and his wife. Elizabeth, live in Dobbs Ferry, N. Y. They have a son. William H., Jr., 22, and 2 daughters. Erika, 19 and Helga, 16. insurance Offer (Continued from page 1) otherwise would not be eligible to earn' the in surance into retirement. By now they all should have received letters explaining the details and requesting acceptance or rejection of the offer. The reply form should be filled out and return ed in the envelope provided as soon as possible. This is particularly true for men who intend to join the program for the first time as a physical examination will have to be arranged for them before Dec. 31. Z < u U2 la: 7 tr UJ < CJ x Tp p Jfc ~ >. vZ: iHn 5 > 52 d3 HE L r-*m -i : EXX-MOR-007310