Document Rr9QKn47NXLmYo2OBnvGd6Bz

PUBLISHED SY THE MARINE DIVISION, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 4, No. 6 March 22, 1962 good Thinking and Prompt Aetion Avert Fiooding Esso Zurich Engineroom A rubber expansion joint on the discharge side of the main circulator failed aboard the Esso Zurich two weeks ago. It was through prompt and proper action by the engineroom personnel that more serious consequences were prevented. The Zurich (Captain Victor G. Lee) was on a ballast voyage from Philadelphia to Baytown, via Freeport. She was about seven miles off Dry Tortugas at 0830, March 9. Chief Engineer Nunzio Consoli and First Asst. Robert A. Stewart went to the forward lower engineroom to locate a drain prior to renewing a gasket. The gasket was for gotten when they noticed a fountain shooting up near the main circulator motor and 114' of water in the bilges. To quote Chief Consoli--"I immediately shout ed to the First Asst, and the Third (Reidar N. Jespersen) who was also present, to put the auxil iary plant in service and to the Oiler to start the bilge pumps. I quickly called the bridge, informed the Mate of our rapid flooding and asked him to call out all engineroom hands. By 0835 we had the main engine stopped and had started closing the main injection valve. Additional help arrived while I was closing the sea suction. When I looked at the bilges at about 0840, the water was approxi mately 3' deep. "Meanwhile, Second Asst. Frederick S. Lyons was getting the auxiliary plant going and Mr. Stew art and Mr. Jespersen were closing and checking Engine Dept, personnel of the Esso Zurich, I. to r.: Machinist John M. Wilmoth, FWT Daniel Cabiroy, Oilers Marshall J. Dedon and Andrew E. Johnson, FWT William J. Klingelhofer, Oiler Edmund A. Larson, Wiper Jose P. DoVale, FWT Richard W. Bettin, Chief cross-over valves and other sea connections to the main condenser. At about 0840 the auxiliary plant was in service and five minutes later all sea valves were closed. "I had Mr. Jespersen take the switchboard breakers for the main condensate pumps and main circulator out of service. Water level was about 4'. "Mr. Stewart and Machinist John M. Wilmoth lifted floor plates and went into the bilges about 0848. By touch they located the ruptured expan sion joint. Water was now S'. In Mr. Stewart's words--"I sent for blankets and log line and with assistance of the Machinist, succeeded in looping a twisted wool blanket into location so we could apply pressure against the hole. We then whipped it with line and applied supporting rags. "WTiile working I was able to determine how fast the water was rising--1' per 10 min. As the whipping pressed the blanket in, the rate of in crease began to slow down." Returning to Mr. Consoli's account--"At about 0855 I gave attention to bilge and general service pumps and had strainer boxes opened and strainers cleaned, one at a time. Then bilge suction valves were checked as to which would be most efficient and the others hardened up. "Water was still rising, but at a much slower rate. At 0910 it was 5 y% . By 0920 pumps were Engineer Consoli and Third Asst. Jespersen. Others who assisted during the emergency were: First Asst. Robert A. Stewart, Second Asst. Frederick S. Lyons, Third Asst. Travis W. McCary and Wiper James W. Crossland. MM/2nd Pumpman William E. Bailey Esso Scranton making ready to tow the Zurich. FWT Daniel Cabiroy and Wiper Jose DoVale with the broken expansion joint. High water mark on the engineroom-pumproom bulk head. A cargo pump turbine is at left. keeping up with water intake. We kept cleaning strainers and at 0950 pumps were slowly gaining. "About 0900 I was informed by Third Asst. Travis W. McCary that condensate was heavily contaminated with sea water. This was caused by cargo pump turbines being under water and a leaking by-pass valve at the auxiliary condenser. This 10" by-pass is on the cargo pump exhaust line and was causing the line to act as a make-up feed. I had steam pressure put on the line and this stopped sea water entering the condensate. Boiler salinity went over 100 grains. Boiler was put on evaporator and alternately given blow downs and compound." Esso Scranton Assists The Esso Scranton (Captain Earl E. Walker and Chief Engineer Thomas J. Bov) was in the vicinity, bound for Texas City. At 0930 she was standing by. "At 1030," Captain Walker said, "our No. 2 lifeboat was lowered and with Chief Mate Sebas tian J. Masuzzo in command, started to take a messenger line to the Zurich at 1050. The messen ger was aboard the Zurich at 1100. With that, they heaved in one of our polypropylene mooring lines and then secured one of their mooring wires and a polypropylene line to it. These were hauled aboard the Esso Scranton and made fast by 1115. The wire was taken through our starboard quarter chock and made fast on the starboard bitts; the mooring line through the port quarter chock and made fast on the port bitts." The Zurich's engineers had the bilges pumped dry by 1430 and all sea connections holding tight. They removed the bolts on the expansion joint with a rivet buster and using the joint as a template, made a blank for the condenser side of the circu lator. The repair was tested, main condenser put in service with the auxiliary circulator and at 2300 they were able to proceed. At daylight, March 10, tow lines were cast off and the Zurich went into Tampa under her own power--40 rpm. at first, then 65% to 70% of full power. A copper expansion joint was made by the Sun shipyard in Chester, Pa. and flown to Miami. It arrived early on March 15, was trucked to Tampa, installed in the Zurich and the ship left port on the morning of the 16th. The Esso Zurich's Engine Dept, men (and others who assisted during the emergency) are to be commended for minimizing the damage that could have been caused by this unusual occurrence. The worst was a main condensate motor, which was shorted and burned out. Two other motors that were under water were later washed out and baked dry and some wet wiring was renewed. Deck Dept, personnel of both the Scranton and Zurich are also to be commended for the excellent towing job. ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the seagoing em ployees of the Marine Division, Humble Oil & Refining Co.: J. D. Rogers, General Manager; Joseph Andreae, Assistant General Manager; Sydney Wire, Assistant Gen eral 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. O. Box 1512, Houston 1, Texas. COHIJIU FROM THE CCJl.LEf TKJNS IN THE CENTER FOR 'AMERICAN HiStOk' THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN Huge Gulf-New York Pipeline Proposed Plans for a $350 million. 36" pipeline, des cribed as the largest privately financed construc tion project in the nation's history, were announced on March 8. The pipeline will carry refined pro ducts 1.600 miles from Houston and Baton Rouge to Staten Island and in addition, will have about 1,000 miles of branch lines. Named the Colonial Pipeline, the project is sponsored by nine major oil companies--Amoco, Cities Service, Continental. Gulf, Phillips, Pure, Sinclair, Socony Mobil and Texaco. Construction of the giant project is expected to start this summer, with completion scheduled for the fall of 1963. The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 600,000 bbls. of clean products daily--- equal to the capacity of 50 tankers (60 T2s). The Colonial Pipeline is an outgrowth of the Suwanee project which was reported to be under consideration last June by eight oil companies. It was about that time that an 18-day shipping strike tied up over 100 tankers on the Gulf-East Coast run. The attraction of the big pipeline for its spon sors is, of course, the promise of reduced costs of transporting oil products to markets. Years ago. The MIS-Adventures of J.STuMB\fft?0Nt Mc FRACTURE Mac started to descend a ladder from the ice machine platform of a T2. On the first step his right ankle turned, causing him to slip and strike the left side of his back in region of kidney. In fact, Mac had trouble negotiating several ladders in the past few months. He fell down an engineroom ladder in one ship, cutting his head; turned his ankle on another engineroom ladder; strained his shoulder on a deck ladder in a third ship, and fractured his shin going up a deck ladder on a fourth vessel. As pointed out previoulsy, Mac's worst enemies are his feet. tankers could easily beat pipelines on costs. But pipeline tecknologjr and efficiency have increased faster than tankers through automation, larger di ameters and improved power utilization. In an article giving a broad background on the Colonial development, The Oil and Gas Journal for March 5 pointed out that because shippers have turned to pipelines does not mean that tankers have reached their maximum efficiency and cannot fur ther reduce transportation costs. "Simplified de signs and automation, little developed on tankers, offer the possibility of almost halving costs on the Gulf-New York run, even without resort to the very largest sizes." the magazine article stated. ESA and Company Hold Two-Day Conference Two days of conferences between representa tives of the Esso Seamen's Association and the Com pany were held in the Port of Newr York Office, Bayonne, on March 15-16. In addition to Union officers, a representative from every ship in the fleet attended. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss details of Company plans, operations and the col lective bargaining agreement and to answer ques tions from seagoing personnel. Judging from the volume and scope of the questions asked, the meet ings were very successful. A report on the proceedings will appear in the next Fleet News. Once Again--4 Rescue Efforts in 8 Days For the second time in two years, four Esso ships have proceeded to the aid of vessels in distress in an eight day span. Two of the tankers were in volved in both periods. In 1960. between March 22 and March 30. the Esso New York picked up four fishermen who had been adrift 214 days, the Esso Gettysburg gave sailing instructions to a "lost" Cuban fishing boat, the Esso Paterson stood by a cabin ciuiser out of fuel and the Esso Gloucester assisted in the search for a downed military plane. The quartet of rescue efforts this year again started with the Esso New York. She was bound from Boston to Baytown with Captain J. B. Regan commanding and Chief Engineer Claud J. Lawson in charge of the engineroom. On March 2 the auxil iary yacht Senora was sighted, 90 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras. The yacht had no power and was taking water. Her four men came aboard the New York and were transferred to a Coast Guard boat off Miama Seabuoy. The yacht sank under tow. On March 5, the northbound Esso Gettysburg EXX-MOR-007845 (Captain Fred G. Smith and Chief Engineer James J. Gunnip) took two men. a 14-year old boy, a small black dog and a pet raccoon off the 18' Blue Angel about 15 miles off North Miami Beach. The survivors had spent a wave-tossed night in the boat after her engines had failed. A Lake Worth Coast Guard patrol boat brought them ashore and also attempted to bring in their boat, which had cap sized in tow. The Esso Boston (Captain Harold F. Blytt and Chief Engineer Aubrey G. Allen) was also north bound when she received a Coast Guard request to assist in rescue operations of the tanker Gem on March 8. The 14,630 dwt. vessel had broken in two 100 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras. The Boston changed course but survivors were picked up by the cruise ship Victoria and the U. S. des troyer Stribling before she could arrive. The 40' Miss Guenivere, on a voyage from Annapolis, Md. to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands had been sought for three days after requesting aid on March 6. She was 200 miles east of Jacksonville and low in the water on March 9, when the Esso Greenville (Captain J. P. Nagel and Chief Engi neer Ferdinand Villamore) found her. Three per sons were aboard, apparently in good health des pite their ordeal. The Greenville landed them at Freeport, Bahamas, March 10, after they had been forced to abandon the yawl in sinking condition. The tanker was enroute from New York to Mobile. Stormy Weather It is certainly not news to any of our seagoing personnel who have been sailing up or down the U. S. East Coast this month that the seas have been "rough and boisterous," to use a currently popular phrase. We might make that real rough and mighty boisterous and still not stretch the truth one whit. In fact, a Weather Bureau spokesman in New York said that the high wind and water probably made the March 6-7 storm the worst on record from the standpoint of battering the coast. The brunt was felt from Virginia to New England. At sea, the experiences of tire Esso Florence were fairly typical. Sailing from Baytown, March 3, bound for Baltimore. Captain Harold L. Sholes reported that the voyage was normal from de parture off Galveston until soon after passing Jupiter Light at 0156, March 6. "By 0400," Captain Sholes said, "the wind had increased to Force 6 and the seas became progres sively higher and longer. We continued at full speed, however, until 0625, at which time we re duced to 85 rpm. We were riding well, with the wind and seas on the port bow. By 0800. this date, the wind had increased to 40 knots or more and remained at this force, with gusts much higher, until 0800. March 8. Various courses and speeds were tried to ease the laboring of the vessel. "I got as close to shore in the North Carolina area as safe navigation would permit," Captain Sholes added, "yet the wind continued to blow and the seas were just as high as out in the Gulf Stream. We passed Cape Hatteras about 1200 on March 8 and soon after came in the vicinity of Chesapeake Light Vessel, 70 miles south of her station. It was very disturbing to listen to distress traffic on the radiophone. Fortunately or unfortunately, depend ing on how you look at it, we were not in any posi tion to assist. "Naturally, with the wind blowing so hard over such an extended period of time, the resultant build up of the seas was spectacular. At times it appeared as though we were looking straight up into the air at the crests of the waves towering over us, and then at the next moment we were headed downward at an alarming angle into the trough. "With manipulation of speed and heading," Captain Sholes concluded, "the vessel rode remark ably well and damage was held to a minimum." The port main pumproom ventilator cowi carried away; the copper exhaust line from the spring line winch on the after main deck came adrift, and about 15' of the gunwale on the port side of the forecastle head was stove in several inches, the supporting brackets sprung and deck plating buck led in the area. OBITUARY s Chief Steward Silvino A. Lopes, 58. was fatally stabbed on the night of March 7. He had evidently surprised three men slashing the tires of his nephew's car in West Wareham, Mass. Three suspects have been arrested and charged with the crime. Mr. Lopes lived with his brother, John H. Alves, in West Wareham. He is also survived by his wife, Laura, and a daughter. Mrs. Eugena Aguiar, of Brava, Cape Verde Islands. Beginning with the Company as Chief Cook in the Norman Bridge on Feb. 16, 1929, Mr. Lopes had more than 30 years' service in the fleet. He had been Chief Steward since Nov. 1940. During the War he was in the Esso Montpelier for 2(4 years and later spent four years in the Esso Buffalo and nearly five in the Esso Everett. He had been Chief Steward in the new Esso Boston ever since the ship joined the fleet in Nov. 1960.