# Forties Field



## William Clark8

I worked in Forties 1975 til 1989 as Senior Deck. In beginning
it was a mad house - no H & E. All ships cargo came on Pallets
and I mean ALL 45Gall, Drums, Bags of Chems and all sorts. Rope slings were used a lot and if a Job needed doing just do it. 
It"s a different word out there now. Anyone out there one of
the original North Sea Tigers? (==D)(==D)


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## stevekelly10

I was working on the Iolair as 3/E end of 1983 to mid 1985 working in the Forties field. I remember the ship being sent over to one of the platforms, to use our divers to recover a forklift truck that had gone overboard ! when the diver went down, he contacted his operator and asked which one did they want, as there was 3 of them down there !!


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## stevejb

worked on a few shutdowns during 79/80 (i think, ) had to berth on the forties kiwi which sometimes meant hot bedding it if choppers couldnt fly, complete bedlam ,but we were young and the money was good


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## Nick Balls

A shot of one of the Forties platforms (Not sure which) Iolair and the Star Arcturus about to back load a large bit of scrap steel! I took this shot in the very early 80's while working for Star Offshore Services


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## Ron Dean

William Clark8 said:


> I worked in Forties 1975 til 1989 as Senior Deck. In beginning
> it was a mad house - no H & E. All ships cargo came on Pallets
> and I mean ALL 45Gall, Drums, Bags of Chems and all sorts. Rope slings were used a lot and if a Job needed doing just do it.
> It"s a different word out there now. Anyone out there one of
> the original North Sea Tigers? (==D)(==D)


A bit too damn cold out there William for H & E, even for the Tigers.
Plenty of other mags though I'm sure! (Jester)

Ron.


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## brooksy

Was on the Kiwi as an AB,from September 76 until December 79.The fabrication workshop fabricated a lot of pipe work for the platformand we
ABs would do all the slinging and rigging all the stuff sent over to the platforms.We would make all our own strops and slingsout of rope.As you say very little health and safety.I think it at least the middle of 77 when we got our first container with all the colour coded rigging gear and shackles.


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## William Clark8

*Hot bedding*



stevejb said:


> worked on a few shutdowns during 79/80 (i think, ) had to berth on the forties kiwi which sometimes meant hot bedding it if choppers couldnt fly, complete bedlam ,but we were young and the money was good


You used to get a few extra Bucks for Hot-bedding (==D)


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## John Briggs

When I was at sea I had to pay a few extra bucks for a hot bedding!


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## William Clark8

*Hot bedding*



John Briggs said:


> When I was at sea I had to pay a few extra bucks for a hot bedding!


Paying to get a Hot Bed? The wheels in my head are turning.:sweat:


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## timo

I was on supply boats early 83 to late 85 running to the Ninian from Aberdeen, not much in the way of H&S in those days, open top rubbish skips that turned into floating boats in bad weather, small lifts placed inside bigger lifts, overside discharges from the rig was the norm, covering the boat and crew in all sorts, if any water/fuel/cement hoses burst or got in the boat props then nothing was said, just another hose got sent down to continue pumping. no cut off limits for weather, if the skipper could get the boat under the rig and hold it there then the crane would work you. 16 hour days when working the rig and half days in port,dockside bars open at 6am till midnight, definitely a work hard play hard culture.


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## gordy

A visiting insurance rep on our supply boat informed us (1976/7), that one crane boom/month was being lost on the installations.


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## William Clark8

*timo*



timo said:


> I was on supply boats early 83 to late 85 running to the Ninian from Aberdeen, not much in the way of H&S in those days, open top rubbish skips that turned into floating boats in bad weather, small lifts placed inside bigger lifts, overside discharges from the rig was the norm, covering the boat and crew in all sorts, if any water/fuel/cement hoses burst or got in the boat props then nothing was said, just another hose got sent down to continue pumping. no cut off limits for weather, if the skipper could get the boat under the rig and hold it there then the crane would work you. 16 hour days when working the rig and half days in port,dockside bars open at 6am till midnight, definitely a work hard play hard culture.


I must admit that the conditions that you Guys worked under
were atrocious and I could never never have done it myself no
matter how much they paid me. It was the Supply boats and 
people like you that kept the Oil Platforms going. Cheers (Thumb)


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## sandhopper

timo;1281138... said:


> Sometime in the 70s I received a call one weekend to go out to a rig on the monday. Never would happen today, no survival or medical certs. Hadn't even seen a rig, more or less looking to drag someone off the street.
> 
> Is there any truth in the story that if someone went to the HSE with concerns, the HSE reported them to their employer and they then had NRB stamped on their records?


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## gde

I was working with an onshore supply company in Peterhead/Aberdeen and did in fact supply a lot of hardware for the pipe laying barges Brown and Root,Saipem,J Ray McDermot etc working in the BP Forties field.When one barge left for good I was told that in order to loose some weight they dumped brand new fork-lifts,Proto Tools,coils of rope,contaners etc as they left Peterhead.Just wonder if it was true.


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## DAVELECKIE

William Clark8 said:


> I must admit that the conditions that you Guys worked under
> were atrocious and I could never never have done it myself no
> matter how much they paid me. It was the Supply boats and
> people like you that kept the Oil Platforms going. Cheers (Thumb)


 Bill
Were you senior deck on the Delta? Think I remember you well, I was Dave Edworthy one of the Elect techs, enjoyed many a happy hour or so in your portacabin mess on the top deck. I was on Delta from 82 to end of 95.
One of the other senior decks was a sky diving enthusiast, forget his name. I might add he did that on his field breaks, not offshore!


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## William Clark8

*Daveleckie*

Yes Dave I"m the one that was on FD. We had some great laughs on there and I can still see your Smiling face even after 20yrs. or so have
passed. I think it was Hughie Bell that did Sky-diving - he was daft
enough to do that sort of thing. When I left FD I went to work with 
Amec on the North Everest Platform as Labourer and not a care in the world, so responsibility whatsoever and it was absolute Magic after
years of being a "Gaffer". Came ashore in 1994 and changed job 
completely. started working in a Care Home with people who had Dementia, that was a real Eye-opener used to get Kicked, punched
Spat on and all sorts but poor Residents unaware of their actions.
Stuck that for 7 Yrs. then started working with People with Learning Difficulties and that was really enjoyable, helping them cope with everyday life. Retired from work 2008 and enjoying a relaxing
time of it. I bump into Brian Night now and then apart from that
never see others from Oil Rig days. What about yourself? What are 
you up to these days? Hope you are keeping in good Health and
it was great hearing from you. All the best - Bill Clark (==D)(Thumb)


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## DAVELECKIE

William Clark8 said:


> Yes Dave I"m the one that was on FD. We had some great laughs on there and I can still see your Smiling face even after 20yrs. or so have
> passed. I think it was Hughie Bell that did Sky-diving - he was daft
> enough to do that sort of thing. When I left FD I went to work with
> Amec on the North Everest Platform as Labourer and not a care in the world, so responsibility whatsoever and it was absolute Magic after
> years of being a "Gaffer". Came ashore in 1994 and changed job
> completely. started working in a Care Home with people who had Dementia, that was a real Eye-opener used to get Kicked, punched
> Spat on and all sorts but poor Residents unaware of their actions.
> Stuck that for 7 Yrs. then started working with People with Learning Difficulties and that was really enjoyable, helping them cope with everyday life. Retired from work 2008 and enjoying a relaxing
> time of it. I bump into Brian Night now and then apart from that
> never see others from Oil Rig days. What about yourself? What are
> you up to these days? Hope you are keeping in good Health and
> it was great hearing from you. All the best - Bill Clark (==D)(Thumb)


Great to hear from you Bill.
After applying for voluntary redundancy twice managed to get it on the third time of asking.
The OIM at the time on Delta had me in his office for an hour or so trying to get me to stay, was quite surprised at that, but my mind was made up and I left just before Christmas 95.
Worked for ten years at a Chemical plant at Avonmouth and again was lucky enough to get another golden handshake and I retired in 2005 age 55.
Proud to say have done nothing since apart from some voluntary driving for community transport in North devon.
Moved to camarthenshire last September and my 65 comes up in April.
Glad to say still fit and well and have many happy memories of my times both in the tanker company and offshore. Mainly great blokes to work with and many great laughs with the likes of yourself. Happy days.
Dave


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## Blackal

I remember the complaints about "Shuttling" in the late '80s at Forties........

"It's unsafe (mate)"

The workforce accepted free overtime, and all was okay with the world again.....


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## William Clark8

*Shuttling*



Blackal said:


> I remember the complaints about "Shuttling" in the late '80s at Forties........
> 
> "It's unsafe (mate)"
> 
> The workforce accepted free overtime, and all was okay with the world again.....


I remember it well, I was member of Helicrew on F Delta and we
used to wind the Shuttlers up, saying Flying cancelled, shuttle will
be coming to FD last. All good fun. (Fly)


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