I am not in the habit of using artwork in my column, mainly because it is hard to find something to illustrate my often rather broad themes. But every once in a while, a photo comes along that begs to be put in print, and I abandon broad themes for a little fun. You will find two such photos on this page.
Kurt Voss, director of the Texas Seaport Museum/Elissa in Galveston, Texas, sent the first photo to us. In the foreground is the sailing barque Elissa, built at Alexander Hall & Co.'s shipyard in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1877. The restored ship is the centerpiece of the Texas Seaport Museum. More than a display, the Elissa is one of the rare fully functional museum vessels that continues to sail annually during sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the background is an unidentified semisubmersible drilling unit. The picture shows the semisubmersible bearing down on the Elissa after slipping its moorings on the other side of the channel in March. Fortunately, the semisubmersible was halted before it threatened the Elissa.
The photo strikes me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I have seen many North Sea service and supply boats berthed in the same spot from which the Elissa was launched more than 100 years ago when Aberdeen was a North Sea trading, shipbuilding and fishing port, not a North Sea oil port.
If you find the juxtaposition of sail and modern drilling units interesting, you will like the second picture. It shows the jackup Rowan Juneau fitted with sails. Many of you may remember the photo. The Juneau made a modified, sail-assisted tow from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico in 1981. Results of the experiment were mixed, but some fuel economy was achieved. It was a one-off effort and has not, to my knowledge, been tried again.
I joined the Juneau as an Aminoil company representative for a short while after it returned to the Gulf of Mexico. The crew was still talking about the voyage. We turned their conversation elsewhere when Aminoil proceeded to drill a well with, as memory serves me, five sidetracks. That may be a record. To make matters worse, we lost a radioactive orienting source in one of the sidetracks. In their infinite wisdom, the US Geological Service required us to attach - weld, that is - a notice to the Juneau's hull noting that a radioactive source had been permanently lost beneath the rig. No amount of effort could dissuade this government organization from requiring us to mount the plaque on the Juneau's hull, although it was pointed out numerous times that neither Aminoil or Rowan expected the jackup to become a permanent fixture on the site. I have often wondered if that plaque is still welded to the hull as the rig makes its way from well to well - surely not. Our thanks to The Rowan Cos. for permission to use the photo of the Juneau.