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PUBLISHED BY THE MARINE DEPARTMENT, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 8, No. 21 November 3, 1966 To Be or Not to Be -- Content You have probably heard the phrase "sowing seeds of discontent." Chances are, though, you've never heard of "sowing seeds of contentment." Well, now you have. To be content may be either good or bad. The same is true for discontent, A man filled with discontent is a miserable person and he frequently makes those about him miserable, too. Also, enough discontent and fretting carried on long enough will raise the devil with your innards and this in turn will give further cause for discontent. On the other hand, a certain amount of dis content can be a good thing. A better product or better way of doing something was never found by a person who was content with the old product or the old method. Discontent can be a spur, a nudge to get you off dead center and TRY to do something constructive. Countless inventions have been made by men who were not satisfied with the old style mousetrap and countless persons have made something of themselves because their discontent drove them to study and work for higher positions. If the founders of this country had been content, or at least not too disturbed, by taxation without representation, they would not have signed the Declaration of Independence. All right, should we all be discontented? In die constructive sense -- yes, in the destructive sense -- no. The big danger in being discontented is that it is hard to control. Because a few' things are not to your liking, it's easy to go whole hog and think that everything is a mess. To put it another way -- discontent tends to put blinders on you so that you can't see anything to be satisfied about. This is a sad situation. How many people have spent the biggest part of their lives complaining and finding fault with their lot, only to realize after they retire or go into some other line that they never appreciated the good things they had? It works the other way. too. You've heard the expression "looking at die w'orkl through rosecolored glasses," or "everything's rosy." Every thing is probably not rosy but because one or two things are. you may feel so good about them that your w'hole outlook is "colored" so that you don't see anything annoying or dismal. Like Polaroid sun glasses. The glare is still there but with the glasses on you don't see it. Pathways to Contentment What we are getting around to is this -- it is really possible to manufacture contentment under almost any circumstances, given reasonably good health. Here are some hints on how to do it. 1. Never feel sorry for yourself. Major General William F. Dean was captured early in the Korean War. In telling how he survived 3 years of misery as a prisoner of war, he made this state ment: "I never allowed myself to feel sorry for myself." Self-pity corrodes morale like hot acid on mild steel -- eats it full of holes. 2. Actions can influence your attitudes. Wil liam James, the American philosopher, explained it this way: "Actions and feelings go together and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can regulate the feeling, which is not." For example, the action of smiling and saying a few' pleasant words to a shipmate when you really are grumpy will tend to make you feel the way you appear. And if the shipmate responds in like manner, which would be natural, the pleasantness increases. 3. The opposite of item 2 is also true -- attitudes can influence actions. Some time ago. University of California psychologists made an experiment. They assigned two equally capable teams to similar tasks. One team was given a pessimistic "pep" talk, the other was given an optimistic talk and asked to tackle their job with all the enthusiasm they could muster. Even if they didn't feel enthusiastic, they were asked to pretend they did. The enthusiastic team did its job in half the time and one-third the effort of the other. The scientists concluded that "Assump tion of an attitude of interest in any activity can Edmund A. Flotten (left). Marine Controller, receives 40-Year Service Emblem from General Manager Joseph Andreae at a luncheon in the Petroleum Club, Houston, Oct. 17. Mr. Flotten's career in the Company has been de voted principally to Marine financial work. Starting on Oct. 18, 1926 with the Jersey company, he advanced through increasingly responsible positions to TreasurerComptroller of Esso Shipping Co. on May 1, 1957. Since then he has continued, through several corpor ate changes, to head Marine finance and accounting. actualN make the activity interesting." And to be interested is close to being contented. 4. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans (12:21) gave another formula for contentment--"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Is contentment worth the effort? John Balguy, an English clergyman, said this: "Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase." But of course, it wouldn't cost you that much. Esso Florence to Carry More Alcohol In preparation for larger alcohol transportation requirements, the No. 1 center tank in the Esso Florence has been tied in to her segregated cargo system. The work involved installation of a new suction line from the tank to the forward pumproom and drilling for seals on all deck openings to the tank. SERVICE EMBLEM AWARDS 20 YEARS * With the additional tank and Nos. 1, 2, and 10 wings, the Florence now has capacity for about 34,600 bbls. of alcohol or other specialties. Another Record Cargo Our 67,800 dwt. ships are playing leap frog with each other in respect to loading the largest cargo. The Esso Houston's record of 520,367 bbls. loaded at Baton Rouge last February was topped Oct. 12 when the Esso New Orleans took 520,896 bbls. out of Baytown. That record only lasted until the Esso Houston sailed from Baytown 10 days later with 528,146 bbls. By weight, the Houston's 63,460 tons on Feb. 7 is still "the most," being 177 tons more than her latest volumetric record. Jersey Earnings and Dividend Earnings of Standard Oil Co. (N. J.) and world wide affiliates for the 9 months ending Sept. 30 were estimated at a new high of $833,000,000, equal to $3.87 per share on the average of 215,484,000 shares outstanding. This was an in crease of $64,000,000, or 8.3%, over the $769, 000,000 or $3.57 a share reported for the same period last year. On Oct. 27 Jersey directors declared a dividend of 900 a share on the capital stock, payable Dec. 12 to shareholders of record on Nov. 10. This will bring dividend payments for 1966 to $3.30 per share, which compares with $3.15 for 1965. nanniRECENT RETIREMENTS***^ Juan G. Santos, second senior Chief Steward in the Fleet and most recently in the Esso Dal las, retired Oct. 1 with nearly 36 V2 years of credited service. Starting as Messman in the Caddo on July 31, 1928, he ad vanced to Second Cook in 1932 and, after 7 years in that rating and as Chief Cook, had his first Steward's assign ment on June 18, 1941. Except for a few months ashore in 1942 and '43, Mr. Santos sailed as Chief Steward through out World War II, shipping out in 7 vessels, and continued in that rating until his retirement. ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the seagoing em ployees of the Marine Department. 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. Billy L. Steward Third Asst. Engineer September 13, 1966 Raymond E. Mott MM/2nd Pumpman September 27, 1966 Wayne W. Birdsong Able Seaman October 13, 1966 1 l EXX- M O R-006434 "I have had happy years while I worked for Humble," Mr. Santos said. "Humble has been very good to me and to the rest of the Esso seamen." Bom in Ecuador, Mr. Santos lives in New York City with his wife Jenny. They have 2 daughters, Rosa and Jenny, and a son John. Fireman-Watertender Willie OB. Boatwright was a lumber jack and farmer, successively, ' in South Carolina before he joined the Fleet as Wiper in the W. C. Teagle on Aug. 8, 1941. He served 6 months in the W. S. Farish in the same rating, then became Fireman in the Christy Payne and E. G. Seubert. In the former ship he made perilous runs to Halifax in 1942-43 and survived the torpedoing of the Seubert in the Indian Ocean on Feb. 23, 1944. He also made wartime voyages as FWT in the G. Harrison Smith and Esso Roanoke. Except for a 2-month break in service in 1951, Mr. Boatwright sailed continuously as FWT for the past 21 years. His total credited sendee is almost 25 years. A native of South Carolina, Mr. Boatwright lives in Myrtle Beach, S. C. with his wife Rosalie. They have 3 daughters and 2 sons, aged 29 to 36. Preventing Steam and Hot Water Burns At least 2 of our lost-time accidents this year resulted in painful hot water bums. Both of them should not have happened. In one, a FWT received 2nd degree bums on both feet when hot water ran out of a steam line William J. Somsky, OS, Esso Lima, proudly holds a brilliantly colored picture booklet about the Lucnica Dancers, of Czechoslovakia. The picture here features his niece, Luba. Bill says the dancers are going to be on the Ed Sullivan Show next May. Mr. Somsky joined the Lima Oct. 20, fresh from a 2 V2-month trip to Europe. He went over and came back on the Bremen, visited Bremerhaven, Frankfurt, Vienna and Budapest, but spent most of his time in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, his home town. A city of 250,000, Bratislava is about 35 miles down the Danube River from Vienna. after he had removed a valve to replace the bon net gasket. In the other case, a Pumpman's arm and shoul der w^ere burned by hot water while he was renewing packing on a steam valve. Someone put steam on the line while the valve was open. Before removing the bonnet from any steam valve or disconnecting a steam fitting, be sure that valves controlling the pressure on the line are closed and secured with wire. Place a sign reading "DO NOT OPEN -- MEN WORKING ON LINE" on or near the valves. Release pres- "A man's house is his castle," the saying goes, and the more so when he builds it himself. This $30,000 home (and we esti mate conservatively) is the residence of Francis L. Picou, PumpmanTrainee in the Esso Boston. On a large plot in Lacombe, La. {NE by E across Lake Ponfchartrain from New Orleans) Frank started survey ing and laying out foundation forms 3 y2 years ago. Every paid leave since then he has been busy with electrical, plumbing, carpentry, ma sonry and tile work. Now, the proj ect is completed except for land scaping and some interior finishing. The house measures 107' in length and 65' maximum depth. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a 24'x18' kitchen, 20' x 16' workshop (at left of photo) and, altogether, 4,700 sq. ft. of living space. Frank is es pecially proud of that carport, the roof of which is held up by 30' laminated beams without column supports. Another deluxe feature is a sunken bath tub which he built from scratch and surfaced with tile. The air conditioning system, which works fine, Frank said, was bought from Sears Roebuck and installed by his son Damian at a cost of $1,500 less than contractors' prices. This is the third house that Frank has put his head and hand to build ing. He sold the first one, is renting the second and lives in the third. Mr. Picou has 15 years' service in the Fleet, mostly as Deck Maintenanceman and AB but lately has been sailing as Pumpman-Trainee. Francis L. Picou sure from the line and stand to one side before the bonnet is removed from the valve. Occasionally steam or scalding water will spurt from a valve some time after the line has been drained and the bonnet removed. This can be caused by leaky stop valves, water pockets or movement due to the roll of the ship. Keep in a safe position when working on open valves. Don't get in a trap. WORDS OF THE WISE Courage, energy and patience are the virtues which appeal to my heart. -- Fritz Kreisler Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals. -- Voltaire. The reason some people get lost in thought is that it's probably unfamiliar territory to them. JF You SSS 7H& FHR&n& UFS A/MBAff&4/U)rRSPPfom. I