Blog
In 1972, Julia and I were living in Long Beach, CA. I was working as the 3rd Engineer on a brand-new tanker, the SS ARCO Sag River. This ship made round trips from Long Beach to Alaska, bringing oil back to Long Beach. It was one of the first ARCO ships to permanently sail on the West Coast. Since ARCO was just starting to move to the West Coast, all the crew’s families were still on the East Coast. We didn’t have children yet, so Julia drove from New York to Long Beach to stay with me during...
Back in the early 1990s, I was a middle manager at a major energy company during a time when businesses were exploring new ways of working. One hot topic was whether a 4-day workweek with 10-hour days was better than the traditional 5-day, 8-hour schedule. I managed a small products pipeline unit with 1,500 miles of pipelines stretching from Dallas to Chicago and about 30 employees. Our unit paralleled a crude oil pipeline unit, but unlike crude oil, our products pipeline required constant...
The pictures above are of a garden on the base and the oil field where I worked. I worked at the Hassi Messaoud Oil Field in Algeria from 1996 to 2008. Hassi Messaoud is located in the middle of the Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world. The Algerians are warm and friendly people, and I enjoyed working there. My work rotation was typically 4 weeks in Hassi Messaoud followed by 3 weeks at home. Hassi Messaoud means “Well of Messaoud,” and it is the largest of the Algerian cities in...
Julia and I were not yet married when I was on a ship carrying cargo to Vietnam in August 1970. I was sending money from my pay to our joint bank account so she could start shopping for the necessities of married life, including a car and a place to live.
She found a wonderful apartment on the Hudson in Garnerville, New York, where we lived for a year. I told her she could pick the car, but I wanted a sports car in the $3,000 range. Julia loved to shop and made a deal with a local Porsche...
Welcome to my Blog once a week I will put another story of my life with its companion poem Enjoy!
St. Elmo’s Fire on the S.S. EXXON Houston, 1969
St. Elmo’s Fire is a mesmerizing phenomenon caused by the atmosphere being charged with static electricity at sea. I witnessed this near Florida, just before a thunderstorm. The air was so charged that I could feel it, making the hair on my skin stand up. As an ordinary seaman on bow watch, the atmosphere was eerie.
The 3rd Mate on watch called out to...