Document k9apaRjkBw6eL7q8pyv37BEm0

COPIED FliOM THE CCJl.LEt'TIONS IN THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN H1STOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS A T A U S TIN ! PUBLISHED BY THE MARINE DEPARTMENT, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 10, No. 5 March 7, 1968 Waste Not, Want Not The Esso Seamen's Association announced Feb. 23 that their members had voted 233 to 39 to ratify the Agreement of Jan. 4, thus ending nearly 3 years of election contests and contract negotiations. Dur ing this period the Company was verbally beaten to a pulp. Every possible angle of wages, benefits and working conditions was lathered -with criti cisms and complaints. Example after example of Company shortcomings, real and imagined wrongs and half-truth stories w'ere spouted with abandon. Some of the criticism and complaints, of course, are understandable and perhaps justified. Labor and management contract bargaining is not sup posed to be a Sunday School picnic. It is a time for differences of opinion, opposing view's. But now' it's over. Whereas in past months we have been on opposite sides of the bargaining table, let us now' think about our common interest. And that is the efficient, economical transportation of petroleum products. Without such a tanker opera tion to provide jobs, there w'ould be little point in any contract negotiations. While wre have been engaged in our internal affairs, our competition has been moving ahead. Colonial Pipeline has low'ered its Gulf-U. S. East Coast rate from 34.8c1 to 30.55^ per bbl. (a 12.2% reduction) and has $ll,308,000-w'orth of improve ments planned for 1968. Plantation Pipeline, anoth er Gulf-East Coast transporter, has a $50,000,000 expansion program for this year. What does this mean to us? It means that wre can't afford to feel complacent. We can't rest on our oars. It means that we must continue and intensify our efforts to improve efficiency and re duce waste. Ah, waste -- what a fertile field for reaping rewards. Who can say he never wastes time? And accidents -- what a reduction in suffering, lost time and inefficiency would result from an in jection of safety consciousness and alertness into World's Oldest1 Tanker There's a tanker operating on the Great Lakes that is older than any man in the Fleet. In fact, it's the oldest tanker in the w'orld, not counting lighters or barges. The Methuselah of oil carriers is the 72-year old Meteor, owned by Cleveland Tankers, Inc. She is 370' x 45' x 26' and is powered by a triple-expan sion reciprocating engine developing 2,000 hp. The Meteor was originally the Frank Rocke feller, of the Bessemer Steamship Co., and was built by the American Steel Barge Co., Superior. Wise., in 1896. She operated in the ore trade until the late 1920s, when newrer and larger carriers made her uneconomical. Purchased by the Erie Steamship Co., the Meteor was converted for grain and automobile service, renamed South Park, and operated until she stranded near Manistique, Mich, during a storm in Nov. 1942. She was declared a total loss. It was then that Cleveland Tankers bought the wreck, rebuilt her as a tanker and put her in serv ice in 1943. She has been going ever since, justi fying her existence by supplying ports too small for larger craft. She even operates during some winter months (with assistance from Coast Guard ice breakers) when the 700' vessels are still in winter tie-up. Great Lakes whalebacks (also called pigboats be cause of their snout-like bow) of a bygone day. The Meteor is the last survivor of the breed. m -A - Jrjr. ,i C ' ,i- ^^5 ^ V'"'s . *V .,vr- N i-t EXX-MOR-007212 CAPTAIN HAROLD SHOLES, Esso Miami, did some movie acting Feb. 8 while his ship was loading at Bay town. It was a Coast Guard film intended to help teach tanker inspection duties to new men in the Serv ice. Captain Sholes played the role of a model ship's Master during a Coast Guard inspection. In the photo, Captain Sholes (seated) is being briefed on the next scene by Lt. (jg) Paul Scholfield, Operations Officer, Captain of the Port - Houston. Contrary to appearances, the man behind the man behind the camera is not putting the "whammy" on the Skipper. our think tanks. So many mishaps could be so easily avoided by such a little more caution or an ounce of prevention. We had 93 shipboard accidents last year, the same as in 1966, and of these, 16 involved lost time according to National Safety Council rules. We will again probably finish in 7th place among 10 fleets in the NSC tanker safety contest. Our poor position is not so much that we are getting worse as the "other guys" are getting better. Another area where waste can be reduced, and this is a big one, is in overtime. Overtime has grown into a very sizeable expense item iii the Fleet and writh the higher rates in the new Agree ment, it can be expected to grow some more. In general, there's no quarrel with that. We'd venture to say that a very high percentage of the money the Company pays in overtime is well spent. Re pair and maintenance work done on overtime by ship's personnel is most certainly more satisfac tory to the men who operate the equipment and less expensive to the Company than shipyard work. But on the other hand, some charges for over time work in the past raise doubts as to just howworthwhile the projects were. Overtime work can be of benefit to the Company, to the seagoing personnel and in the interest of efficient opera tion. or it can be none of these. Perhaps you can do something about this latter type of overtime -- if you agree that our best guarantee of staying in business long enough for some of our younger fellows to get in their 20 years is to reduce waste and become more competitive. John Trainor Retires There's hardly a man who has sailed in the Fleet during the past 10 or 15 years who / doesn't know and appreciate John Trainor as a hard-work ing, cheerful fellow who comes aboard to repair and adjust the TVs, radar, gyros, ozonators in the iefrigerators. electrical parts of the steering gear and, as an extra dividend, leave a newspaper in the messroom. John retired March 1 with nearly 39 years' service, the sincere best wishes (and a sizeable kitty) from his legion of friends, and 3 retirement luncheons -- all of which he has well earned. During his entire career John had only 2 em ployers -- the U. S. Navy and Esso. He joined the former in 1922, spent a year in the Navy's electrical school, another 14-15 months at Sperry's gyro school and the balance of his 7-year hitch in the USS Utah. He made 2 trips around South America in the battlewagon, one with General Pershing in 1924-25 and the other with President Hoover in 1928. Joining the Company in July- 1929 at Bay-onne, John did maintenance on gyros and Fathometers at first, then got into other electronic equipment as the equipment got into the ships. He worked at Baytown for the past 7 years. John and his wife Irene (also a former Com pany employee) live in Seabrook. Texas. Theyhave 2 children. Michele. 20. a junior at Our Lady- of the Lake College in San Antonio, and Jay, 17. in high school. A Close One A "situation" developed on the afternoon of Feb. 18 w-hen the Esso Lima was about midway down the Houston Ship Channel after leaving Baytown at 1540. A tug and an empty chemical barge, also out bound, were sighted ahead and it appeared that the tug was having difficulty- in handling the barge. This was confirmed by radiotelephone and when the tow started to cross in front of the Lima. Captain R. E. Parkhurst sent Second Mate Gerald F. Smith forward to stand by- the anchor. No sooner had he arrived forward when the order was given ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the seagoing em ployees of the Marine Department. Humble Oil & Refining Co.: T. .T. Fuson. 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. X u< 5 .*m:2< 2 S 3 u. - v ' 2UJ: %<J-StUirJt ^p*<_< * --> i. 'lS410Z. cLt/U3 JUJ Ip to "let her go." Assisted by OS Luke Clarke, Mr. Smith dropped the anchor immediately, sensed when sufficient chain was out and snubbed it short. In the meantime, Captain Parkhurst put her full astern and sounded the general alarm. The entire crew responded within seconds. Hoses were led out, monitors manned by Deck and Steward's Dept, men and the Engine Dept, men reported to their stations below. The Lima was stopped short of the wayward tow and, 9 minutes later, continued down channel. What might have developed into a nasty situation was avoided, thanks to "expecting the unexpected," good seamanship and teamwork by the men in the Lima. ~ - - - TAFFRAIL TALK ' -i First checks in the SI60, $200, $240, $260 (less usual deductions) lump sum payments to unli censed men under the new Agreement were passed out to crewmembers of the Esso New Orleans at Paulsboro, March 3 and the Esso Huntington and Jamestown at New -York, March 4 and 5, respec tively. Payments will continue at discharge ports as ships arrive. Checks to men on paid leave are now in the mail, or will be shortly. Y'all keep a sharp lookout for the mailman. It's a pleasure to introduce Grady T. (Tom) Shearer, who has been working at the Baytown Branch Office for 3 months now. The young man is a graduate of Lamar Tech, with a degree in business administration. He lives in Bay town, likes hunting, shooting and fishing and is the kind of fellow you like to have around -- good worker, anxious to learn. natured, willing New annuitants Captain Emil L. Wigh, Char les E. Schwarb, Arthur H. Eidinger and John J. Margres were luncheon guests of the New York "Bread" Upon the Waters Removes Oil These are photos of a demon stration to show how a shredded polyurethane foam called Bibbipol can remove oil spills from water. Developed by J. Bibby & Sons Ltd., of Liverpool, for Jersey's Esso Petro leum Co., the material is among the cheapest and most promising means of removing oil. In the demonstration at Esso Petroleum's Fawley Refinery, 45 gal lons of crude oil were poured on the water at a local pond. The plas tic "bread crumbs" were spread over the oil. Within minutes the white foam began to turn black as it soaked up the oil. A flexible boom and net arrange ment scooped up the oily foam and towed it ashore, after which the pond was remarkably free of oil. By passing the saturated foam through rollers, more than 80% of the oil was recovered and the foam was ready for reuse. Polyurethane foam has a natural affinity for oil but it absorbs little water. It is also non-toxic and harmless to marine life. Fifty cu. ft. of the foam can ab sorb one ton of oil at a cost in materials of about $14, according to the manufacturer. The process is still being developed and additional experiments are planned. (We herewith donate our own contribution to the anti-pollution cause-, instead of dumping the foam out of bags, how about blowing it out-- like a vacuum cleaner in re verse? And if it's too windy, put the nozzle under water and let the foam come up under the oil. -- Ed.) X o< ll E5 C CJ Xu f-- u_ CO L>aUs 32 0 UJ Sr ic j i- . *" EXX-MOR-007214 Branch Office at the Chandelier Restaurant, Bay onne, Feb. 15. The affair, described as "delightful." included presentation of annuitant emblems and gold watches. Howard A. Briles (Chief Mate, ret. July 1, 1963) writes from Singapore. "Thought I would give the sea life another whirl. These people, Vic tory Carriers, out of New York, have been after me for some time so I gave in. Am sailing Chief Mate on the S. S. St. Lawrence." RECENT RETIREMENTS ~ Able Seaman Alexander Armadi had 2 seagoing careers, one in the U.S. Navy and one in the Esso Fleet. He enlisted in the Navy in 1920, at age 17, and spent most of his 26 years in the Service in submarines. He was mustered out in 1946 with a Chief Torpedoman's Mate rating. :.Y\ - Mr. Armandi's 17V2-year Company career, ex SERVICE EMBLEM AWARDS it 20 YEARS it ' 'A \ S \. \ . .. ^/ % Marshall G. Price Chief Mate February 6, 1968 . v !" - ;' . ft. % .WS Julius Q. Brown First Asst. Engineer February 11, 1968 i/f'V r" . * ' c *1. ' / \!s l?4?S Alf. R. Weatherington Second Asst. Engineer February 10, 1968 " 8* ' \ ' 1- ^ Andrew Bozicevic Third Mate February 12, 1968 Kenneth W. Hill Third Asst. Engineer February 11,1968 ... Frederick Eimans Chief Steward May 30, 1966 ; \ '['i, * ^j(g - - cept for one assignment, was as AB. He started in Aug. 1950 in the Esso Cumberland and his last ship before his mandatory retirement, March 1, was the Esso Houston. He also put in 2 years aboard the Esso Seattle. "I am glad I sailed for Esso;" Mr. Armadi said, "a good company to work for, and I mean it." Alex lives in Stamford, Conn, and outside of gardening, fishing and puttering around the house, he is going to "play it by ear" as he goes along. Able Seaman George Q. Whitley retired early. Feb. 1, wdth nearly 16 years of credited service. He sailed intermittently in the 1930s and contin uously since Dec. 1955 as AB with but 2 excep tions. His last assignment was in the Esso Scranton. Born in Cambridge, Mass.. Mr. Whitley resides in Gilmanton Iron Works, N. H., which is just south of Lake Winnipesaukee. Messman Joaquim J. Gonsalves had continuous service in Steward's Dept, ratings from Feb. 1952, when he joined the Esso Paterson, until his early retirement, Feb. 1, 1968, following an assignment to the Esso Scranton. For most of his 15% years of credited service he sailed as Messman or Utilityman. A native of the Cape Verde Islands, Mr. Gon salves lives in New Bedford with his wife Madeline. Raise in Grade John E. Gamache -- to 2nd Asst.. March 1.* *Date reported to Company. Answer to last issue's crossword puzzle. F 00T AGE 3 s 10 H E pT A NE 0 Ri SER 0cEAN X 13 RA p EA R LA D iT 22 EG G A RA N S A S A RE 29 IR i S sN00T SV EN GE N u S DDT 33 s PE N D NE p A s S1 35 s E cURES R0 E T0R 42 sE VE NT H 4S YA RN AT PR I M E AGO NEVER 52 LA N E ALo u D DAR E S" I T E "~s p 0 0 N E D N Ip r0 A pO G L E "e 1 EA E "s T 0 R ' M "e V E N S N 'd I N E T T E ft E D D E N s Mateus Gonsalves Chief Steward April 15, 1967 James Wright Oiler May 29, 1967 John P. Jennings Fireman-Watertender February 7, 1968