Document GKN7VBpGyjOoOQv2rV9wxjpom

PUBLISHED BY THE MARINE DIVISION, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 7, No. 15 August 12, 1965 Home Building from the Ground Up Probably one of the most sat isfying pursuits with which a man can occupy himself is the building of an estate - particu larly a real estate estate. And the smaller the beginning, the greater the satisfaction, especi ally when the building is large ly the work of his own hands and head. Billy L. Steward Third Asst. Billy L. Steward has been building an estate like that. In Feb. 1960 he bought 18 acres of unimproved land 2 miles outside of the town of Cleveland, Texas (40 miles NE of Houston). Most of the land had been cultivated a few years before but was then going back to pine trees. There were also 4 acres of thick woods with a dozen varieties of trees plus blackberries and grapes. "My family and friends helped make improve ments," Billy said, "cutting down unwanted trees, trimming pines, clearing out underbrush, building fences, constructing a driveway with 60 cu. yds. of iron ore, and building a garage and home. "We moved to the place from Baytown in June 1960 after buying a 35' Spartanette mobile home to live in. A neighbor supplied our water until September, when we built a 48' x 20' garage and utility building, had a well drilled (412') and a jet pump installed in the garage. "We began buying materials and building the house in May 1963 and moved in in June 1964 be fore it was completely finished." The Stewards' home is designed somewhat on the idea of a trailer but bigger. It is 77' long, including a carport at one end, and 20' w'ide. It has aluminum roofing, asbestos siding, glass jalousie doors and window's, oak and vinyl asbestos flooring, air con ditioning and a 12,500 Btu. heat pump. There is a large combination living area and kitchen next to the carport, then a den, 2 bedrooms and bath. Walls are mahogany or ash plywood except for redwood paneling in the den. The garage and utility building has 3 overhead doors, an 8' x 12' library and office, laundry, stor age area, deep freeze and work bench. Most of the space is for farming equipment, which includes 2 tractors, plows, harrow's, cultivator, mower and a Cushman "Truckster" bought last February at a Humble Refinery auction. Billy, his wife Rose and son Wayne, 14, haven't done too much in the way of farming yet. But there's plenty of time for that. If, some time in the future, Billy feels he'd rather live off the land (and his Humble annuities) than the sea, he can do it. Right now' he has 2 cows and 2 calves and has planted enough Sudan grass and winter oats to feed them. Front and side views of Billy Steward's house and garage in Cleveland, Texas. Third Asst. William L. Thompson and Oiler Antonio M. Goncalves on watch in the Esso Lexington, Aug. 4. The Lexington is Bill's first ship as Third Asst, and one of Tony's first as Oiler. Bill got an original Second Asst's. license in May, after attending an engineer's school in New Orleans, He has 13 years of Company service. Tony has also been sailing in the Fleet about 13 years, mostly as Wiper. Mr. Thompson's assignment as Third Asst, is one of the reasons why, at least as of Aug. 5, there were no men with Engine Dept, licenses sailing in unlicensed jobs. In fact, we have been hiring a few temporary Third Assts. Does this give any FWTs or Oilers an idea? Half the Fleet Has Voted in 1st Round During the first 10 days of August, 10 ships have been voted in the first round of balloting in the NLRB-supervised election. The Esso Gettys burg., Houston and Bangor were voted at Balti more. Boston and New York, respectively", on Aug. 2. followed by the Esso Boston at New Haven on Aug. 3. Between Aug. 5 and 10 the Chester. Balti more. New York, Lexington and Huntington were all balloted at New York and the Esso New Orleans at Paulsboro. Honest John, the Seaman's Friend Many years ago there was a man who visited the Esso ships taking orders for tailor-made suits. He called himself "Honest John." He used to carry with him a sample case filled with catalogues and swatches of fabric. Honest John was a silver-tongued pitchman. It was an absolute joy just to hear him describe his wares. The wool used in his garments came from virgin New Zealand sheep, he said. Teams of imported Italian seamstresses worked watch and watch the clock around sewing the fine seams that went into his suits, he claimed. He would spend hours taping and measuring seamen of all shapes and sizes. Talking all the while. A tailored suit by" Honest John cost $30.00. "I make no money" on these suits," he would say. "I just want my seamen friends to look good when they go ashore. You know, give the ship a good name." All that was needed to get a suit started was a small cash deposit--five, ten or fifteen dollars. Months passed as Honest John plied his trade. He would pop up at Everett, Philadelphia, even in Robbins Dry" Dock. One strange thing about Honest John's enter prise. No one in the fleet ever got delivery of a suit. When pressed on this minor point he would shrug the question off. Or he would explain that he had such a "tremendous backlog of orders." Once he even described how he had ordered a fin ished suit to be taken completely" adrift and done over. "I didn't like the way it hung." he said. Finally, he showed up one day" aboard a ship at Stapleton anchorage. He w'as greeted warmly" by the crew". Then they" threw him over the side, sample case and all. Luckily, a kindly launchman, with the help of a boathook, fished old Honest John out of the bay" and put him ashore on Staten Island. That is the last that was ever seen of Honest John. Ever since, Esso seamen have been wary and distrustful of glib-tongued shore-side strangers selling a bill of goods. Number of Inactive Vessels Jumps The Maritime Administration's Merchant Ma rine Data Sheet for July 31 reported 779 vessels of 1,000 gross tons or over in the active ocean going U. S. merchant fleet on July 1. This was 131 fewer vessels than the number active on June 1. The large decrease in active ships wras a result of the East and Gulf Coast maritime strikes which had tied up 113 ships as of July" 1. Of the privately owned vessels inactive, the Data Sheet showed 55 tankers strikebound, 11 laid up and 2 "idle". 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. Gardner. 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, Texas 77001. When You Change Your Address It often requires 3 change of address forms to correct records in the office when you change your mailing address. First, there is the W-4 form. This is your address for the Marine Division records, the ships' mail desk, the Fleet News, and for income tax purposes. Then there is the Change of Address form (#991-0165) for your plans registered address. This is the address used by the Company's Benefit Plan office for mailing anything in connection with the Thrift Fund, insurance or other benefits. The third address change form applies if you have a draw check order and want your checks sent to a new address. We admit it may seem silly to require 3 change of address forms from a man who only uses one address. But a good many men do not use the same address for all 3 purposes and hence the necessity for 3 separate forms. -------- TAFFRAIL TALK r We hope we didn't "spook" anyone with our remark in the last issue (referring to the Esso Scranton) that "our Traffic Dept, will be looking for more business for her." Of course they found some, there is lots of charter business. The Scran ton is now hauling an MSTS cargo from Baton Kouge to Norfolk and another India or Pakistan voyage is shaping up, although she may make one or more coastwise trips before she goes foreign. Oscar A. Jensen. Third Mate in the Esso Lexington, did a little planning for the future when he and his wife Jenny were in Norway last summer. They bought a cooperative apartment in Tonsberg. which is about 45 miles south of Oslo. The apartment building hasn't been constructed vet but it is expected to be finished in 2 years which, Mr. Jensen figures, is just about the right time for his retirement. The apartment cost 15,000 kroner, equal to about $2,200 and the maintenance charges will run around $40 per month. Mr. Jensen and his wife, who is a native of Tonsberg, spent a month in Norway touring the country in an English Ford, a Volksw'agen and a German Ford and included a visit to the new' Esso refinery in Slagen. The Jensens have lived in a co-op apartment in Brooklyn for the past 18 years. When our Seagoing Personnel Section gets re quests for information on the whereabouts of em ployees, it's usually in connection with something routine. Not routine, though, was the letter received early this month from the Sweepstakes Commis sion of the State of New' Hampshire. They said they had attempted without success to contact Edward J. ' Schleifer (Chief Engr. in the Esso New York) to inform him that he had a winning ticket in the first drawing for the 1965 New Hamp shire Sweepstakes. W. A. Scott, of the Bavtowm Captain James A. Mercer (center). Master of the Esso Chester, receives the Marine Division's Certificate of Safety from A. Giallorenzi, Man ager of the New York Branch Office, on July 20. The award signifies that the Chester operated throughout 1964 without a personnel injury resulting in lost time of sick leave. L. to r. are: John Sachs, N. Y. Office; Conrad Lutz, FWT; Jing Ming, MM; Raymond Bastone, Oiler; Daniel Donovan, MM; S. D. Rabadan, N. Y. Office; Colos Bennett, Chief Engr.; John Hall, Second Mate; Captain Mercer; Michael Hickey, Third Mate; Herman Ambrose, MM/2P; Harold Smith, Chief Stew ard; Mr. Giallorenzi; Charles Pires, AB; J. S. Burkart and Captain Har old Martin, N. Y. Office; Donald Delozier, Third Mate, and James Dalton, AB. The Esso Chester also received a Jones F. Devlin Award for 2 years' operation without a lost time acci- EXX-MOR-006928 -.MV. office, bore the glad tidings to Mr. Schleifer when the New York docked at Freeport,Texas on Aug. 3. ** * Esso Gloucester has completed her first trip to Spain and has started her second. This time she loaded at Aruba, instead of Amuay, and is sche duled to discharge at Rota and Cartagena (on the Mediterranean) Aug. 19 and 21. ** * The Esso Washington (Captain Charles L. Llew ellyn and Chief Engr. William A. Dundon) left Baton Rouge for Norfolk, Aug. 2, with the biggest cargo -- 38,471 tons -- ever loaded in a "38". The new record was made possible by using the fore deep tanks, which have been tied in to the cargo system, the deeper draft permitted by closing in the midship house and deeper water now available in Southwest Pass. ** * Our Port Steward's office, which tries to keep "hep" to the latest in foods and feeding procedures, came across a report of experiments in Texas with a seedless watermelon. The fruit of one test plot was described as having "beautiful red flesh, crisp and sweet, solid and heavier than other water melon of the same size." The seed was furnished by the American Seedless Watermelon Seed Corp., of Goshen. Ind. ** * Baytown Briefs, the employee publication of the Baytown Refinery, had a clever headline in the July 30 issue -- "Stowaways Save To Pay For Stolen Passage on Esso Ship." The story was about the swarm of bees that came aboard the Esso Florence at Jacksonville last year and rode the ship to Baytown. There the little buzzers were removed by a Refinery man. O. L. Kent, who knows how to handle bees. He gathered them in a box and added another hive to his col- SERVICE EMBLEM AWARDS 20 YEARS * A-;.-.-' \ mm t: Arnold A. McBride Chief Mate May 11, 1963 Patrick J. Curran Utilityman January 1,1964 James M. Hughes Able Seaman January 6, 1964 Henrique L Ferreira Utilityman June 11, 1965 10 YEARS Alfred G, Schank Oiler June 14,1965 ^ Grady V. Fountain Oiler June 16, 1965 FWT Frank Gross The outboard motorboat Pearl looks OK here but she was lost, low on fuel and hove-to on a rainy, windy July 21 when the Esso Jamestown sighted her about 1545, 19 miles east of Port Everglades. The Jamestown, enroute from Norfolk to Baton Rouge, stopped alongside*the boat and learned that the 2 men in it had been fishing, had lost sight of land during a squall and were without a compass. Captain Harold L. Sholes, Master of the Jamestown, reported the lost boat to the Coast Guard in Miami and was requested to give any possible assistance. "Prior to arriving at that area," Captain Sholes said, "we had washed all gasoline tanks and drained lines. However, we got about 2 gallons from various gaso line sample bottles and, adding some telemotor oil, provided the boat with a mixture suitable for his outboard motor. The sea was quite choppy with heavy rains around us so we escorted the boat to Port Ever glades Breakwater." After Captain Sholes notified the Coast Guard that the Pearl. was safely in port, Rear Admiral L. M. Thayer, District Commander at Miami, acknowledged "with pleasure . . . the extreme cooperation extended by your vessel . . ." lection at home. "Since then," the Briefs article said, "the bees have produced about 10 gals, of honey, part of which has been used to pay for their passage." Accompanying the story was a picture of Mr. Kent presenting Captain Alphonsus Gregaitis with a big jar labeled "Pure Honey From Enco Bees." 30 Yea rs' Service C. LEO WHYTE Employee Relations Representative, New York Branch Office July 18, 1965 mmmm WORDS OF THE WISEmmmmm No person was ever honored for what he re ceived. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. -- Calvin Coolidge EXX-MOR-006929