Document jYgDOoJa5ZVN8OrjYzkakNxN

Vol. 3, No. 7 PUBLISHED BY the MARINE DIVISION OF HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY April 6, 1961 Marine Shore Employees Receive Gold Watches for 30 Years' Service Twenty-seven Marine Division men and women in New York were guests of honor at a luncheon at the New York Athletic Club on March 29. Each was presented with an inscribed gold watch by J. D. Rogers, General Manager of the Division, in recogni tion of 30 years of Company service. The "time-honored" group shown below (plus Art Sprague and Walter Yoeckel, Port of New York Office, who could not attend) represent 1,007 years of experience in the management and operation of Esso tankers. Figures in parentheses are the in dividual's length of service. Left to right, first row: Bill Jenkins, Inland Waterways (30); Joe Angel, Port Staff (38); Al Reining, Traffic (33); Gus Wittemann, Repair (37); Bill Kempf, Port of N. Y. Office (40); Elmer Adams, Finance & Accounting (31); John Reilly, Port of N. Y. Office (36); Walter Tigar (33) and John Balzli (30), Repair. Standing: E. A. Flotten, Manager, Finance & Account ing (34); Luddy Bade, Operating (30); Haroid Johnson, Finance & Accounting (30); J. D. Rogers (45); Haakon Jacobsen, Inland Waterways (37); Bob MacFarlane, Finance & Accounting (31); George Lowe (31) and Hank Schroeder (34), Inland Waterways; Esther Kiesling, Port of N. Y. Office (43); John Gillies, Inland Waterways (31); H. W. Bradbury, Port Staff (33); Mike Spellacy, Manager, Inland Waterways (36); Frank Pooton, Finance & Ac counting (41); Elsie Grundelman, Finance & Accounting (31); Captain Harry Heffelfinger, Port Staff (38); Danny Ribolla, Operating (30); Sy Rabadan, Port Staff (33), and Captain A. Larson, Manager, Port of New York Office (39). Repair Schedules Start This Month The annual overhaul, repair and betterment of ves sels in the fleet is slated to get underway this month. Leading the parade are the Esso Gloucester, Esso Zurich and Esso Suez, which are scheduled to go into shipyards next week. The Gloucester and Suez are to have annual American Bureau of Shipping surveys and general repairs, estimated to require 16 and 7 days, re spectively, in the yard. In addition, the stripper system in the Esso Gloucester is to be modified by installing a crossover in No. 3 center tank between the port and starboard stripper line. This will enable the forward tanks to be stripped through the starboard stripper line. A major project for the Esso Zurich is the zinc coating of cargo tanks Nos. 1 to 7 across and No. 8 center, to make her 100% coated. Some changes in cargo piping will make it possible to load or dis charge an additional clean product independently of other cargo handling. The stripper line in No. 1 tank will be extended to the existing bilge and ballast pump in the forward pumproom and a discharge line installed from that pump to a new midship crossover. A connection between the rotary stripper pump and the No. 10 wing tanks will also be made to accommodate handling of small parcels of specialty products. A new exhaust blower will be installed to ventilate the forward pumproom. Later in the month the Esso Bridgeport and Esso New York will be withdrawn from service, the former for about 12 days' repairs, including installa tion of air conditioning units in the messrooms. During the Esso New York's repair period, 15 cargo tanks will be zinc coated and the living accom modations will be completely air conditioned. Cargo piping alterations similiar to those planned for the Esso Zurich will also be made. When repairs aboard the Esso New York are com pleted, the entire fleet, with the exception of the 16,000 dwt. ships, will have air conditioned quarters. Added Proof of Life in Space Reported Mention was made in the last issue of the Fleet News of the discovery of what appears to be evi dence of life in the "outer world." Dr. Warren G. Meinschein, of Esso Research and Engineering Co., and Drs. Bartholomew Nagy and Douglas J. Hennessy, of Fordham University, announced that they had discovered organic hydrocarbon compounds in a 97-year-old meteorite that fell near Orgueil, France. Later research has led the scientists to believe that the meteorite also contained a substance with the same properties as cholesterol, a fatty material found in egg yolk and the human nervous system and blood stream. They have also found molecules of a waxy substance similar to that found on the skin of apples, grapes and palm leaves. These new discoveries further confirm their conclusion that "wherever this meteorite originated, something lived." WORDS OF THE WISE "Most of us, swimming against tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement--and we'll make the goal. Say `Thank you!' whenever you think of it. Say `Nice job!' to that workman who put extra effort into his task. Say `Atta boy!' to the fellow who is struggling through in the face of odds. You'll get a whale of a lot of joy out of life that way. And people will love you." Jerome P. Fleishman 40-Year Man William C. Kempf, Cashier at the Port of New York Office, was honored March 20 upon the completion of four decades of Company service. Bill was pre sented with the three-diamond service emblem by J. D. Rogers, General Manager of the Marine Division, a transistor radio by his co-workers and was guest at a luncheon at the New York Athletic Club. Starting in the Marine Department on March 21, 1921, Bill became a Mail Clerk, held several posts in the Seagoing Personnel Section and in December, 1942 advanced to Paymaster. He was Head of the Paymaster Unit from June, 1949 to June, 1958, when he was promoted to his present position. Bill's favorite sports are baseball and football. For many years he was a catcher on Marine Dept, base ball teams. Humble Acquires 12 Ohio Service Stations Announcement was made March 27 that Humble Oil & Refining Company had acquired the service station business of the Sun Flash Oil Company. There are 12 Sun Flash stations in six Ohio cities. Seven are in Columbus, where Humble established its ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the seagoing employees of the Marine Division, Humble Oil & Re fining Co.: J. D. Rogers, General Manager; James E. Stoveken, Assistant General Manager; Sydney Wire, Assistant General Manager. W. E. Gardner, Ed.; R. M. Sheridan, Editorial Ass't. Contributions and suggestions are invited and should be addressed to The Editor, Esso Fleet News, Room 936, 15 West 51st Street, New York 19, N. Y. Ohio headquarters last year. The other stations are in Chillicothe, Lorain, Portsmouth, Warren and Zanesville. At present the 12 stations will continue to operate as Sun Flash, with no change in current marketing programs or operating personnel. "Our marketing development program in Ohio will be effectively supplemented by the acquisition of the 12 Sun Flash stations," James T. Outz, Humble's Ohio Area Manager, said. Humble's program of service station development in Ohio was inaugurated about a year ago. In the past seven months it has opened a dozen stations in the state and has about 25 more under construc tion. Preventing Steam Burns There have been several cases recently where men have been painfully burned by steam issuing unexpectedly from disconnected fittings. In one in stance, an Assistant Engineer was slightly burned about the face, chest and right arm when steam and hot water shot out of a disconnected flange on a steam trap. A Machinist suffered more serious burns on arms, legs and body while working on a steam valve. Before removing the bonnet from any steam valve or disconnecting a steam fitting, valves controlling the pressure on the line should be closed and secured with wire. Place a sign reading "Do Not Open -- Men Working on Line" on or near the valves. Have the pressure released 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 move ment due to the roll of the ship. Keep in a safe position when working on open valves. Don't get yourself into a trap. RECENT RETIREMENTS Officers' Messman William F. Chebba. Mr. Chebba retired on April 1, after having completed over 12 years of credited service in the Steward's Department. Born in Algeria, he served with the U. S. Army in World War I " and was a waiter in the Hotel Vendome, Boston, for 31 years. He joined Esso as Utilityman in the Esso Bethlehem on March 8, 1948 and since December, 1959 has been Officers' Messman in the Esso Chattanooga. A widower with two sons, William and George, Mr. Chebba plans to continue to make his home in Boston. 9HPI Photo courtesy The Baytown Sun Jim Miller with some of his inlaid-match stick tables, jewelry boxes, lamp and lamp shade. Match Stick Artistry One would hardly think that a fellow who rides a sporty black and chrome motorcycle and wears a black leather jacket would have the patience to spend about 500 hours making a match-inlaid table. But, such a man is James LeRoy Miller, recently Ordinary Seaman in the Esso Paterson. Jim has made five coffee tables, three end tables, eight jewelry boxes, a lamp and lampshade -- all beautifully inlaid with match sticks. For most of the pieces he burns the matches to get a contrasting color for intricate and pleasing designs and, for some, he dyes the matches. The matches are carefully selected, burned uniformly and cut to desired length with homemade knives of sharpened hacksaw blades. For a table Jim sketches a design on a piece of plywood, glues on the burnt-ended and dyed matches, sands the surface smooth and applies three to` six coats of varnish. Legs are attached last. The base of the lamp in the photo is a cigar box and the sides are apple crate wood, all covered with match sticks laid in diamond designs. The jewelry boxes are covered inside and out with glued match sticks. Jim learned the art from a Portuguese seaman in the Esso Little Rock in 1956 and later got some pointers from Ling Ah Tay, now Utilityman in the Esso Washington. In addition to more than two years in the Esso fleet, Jim has served four years in the Army and six months in the Navy. He and his wife live in Bay town and his father is an employee of Humble's Baytown Refinery. EXX-MOR-007479 COPIED FROM THE COLLECTIONS IN THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTOK THE UNIVERSITY OFTEXAS AT AUSTIN GOODBYE NEW YORK. The "tight little island" of Manhattan made a story book picture when photo graphed recently from down the Bay. It's a scene that most of our shore personnel won't be seeing much longer as moving day to Houston approaches. In fact, this is the last FLEET NEWS to be published in New York. The next one will come to you from Texas. mrntimmssmmmzmM OBITUARY Third Mate Kurt E. Meyer. Mr. Meyer, formerly Third Mate in the Esso Florence, died in Stapleton, S. I., on March 31. Interment was in his home town of Linden, N. J. He was born in Hartwick, Hesse, Germany, 57 years ago and is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter. After prior service as an Able Seaman, Mr. Meyer became a licensed officer in September, 1949 and had over I4l/z years of credited service with the Company. ` Annuitant Laurence B. Jones. Born in Massachusetts and a resi dent of Waquoit (Falmouth), Mr. Jones, 67, died on February 12. He is survived by his wife. After service in the U. S. Navy in World War I, he sailed as an engineer with the Pocahontas Steamship Company and the Panama Pacific Line. Joining Pan Am in 1924 as Third Assistant Engineer in the Elisha Walker, he had over 28!/4 years as Chief in the fleet, including 12 in the Esso Paterson. He had been retired since January 1, 1958. TAFFRAIL TALK Pumpman Bernard B. Mack, Jr., suffered a heart attack aboard the Esso Zurich on April 1, while the ship was at Baton Rouge. He was taken to the Baton Rouge General Hospital and for the present no visi tors are permitted. We all wish him a speedy and complete recovery. #* The Esso Paterson was sold April 3 to the Union Carbide Corp. The 19-year-old T2 was originally scheduled to be withdrawn from service as part of our fleet modernization program. It is understood that the new owner intends to rename the vessel On and after April 17, mail address of the Marine Division (and the FLEET NEWS) will be P. O. Box 1512, Houston 1, Texas. Street address is Americana Bldg., 811 Dallas Avenue. As previously mentioned, the Port of New York Office staff will not move to Houston until after August 1. A New York Agency Office is to be established at "Con Hook" about July 1. Carbide Texas City and convert her to a wet and dry chemical carrier. Officers and crew members of the Paterson have been assigned to other vessels or to paid leave. ifr * We are accustomed to think of Humble as a petroleum producer, refiner, transporter and marketer but, based on dollar sales last year, the Company also ranks among the top 10 chemical companies in the United States. Humble's chemicals are petro chemicals, the fastest growing part of the industry. From a negligible position 20 years ago, petrochemi cals now account for about one-half of the U. S. chemical business. Worldwide tanker tonnage in tie-up, as of March 17, reached the lowest point since the present excess began in 1957. The mid-March report showed 158 T2 equivalents inactive, compared with a high for the past three years of 470 T2s on October 2, 1959. The report of March 24, however, indicates that seven additional tankers had become idle during the week. P EXX-MOR-007480