Sea Stories
Supply Boats In Mexico
Tidewater operates over 50 boats out of Ciudad de Carmen and Paraiso
in the Bay of
Campeche in Mexico. A supply boat delivers water, diesel, mud
and supplies
to platforms, rigs, vessels and derrick barges. The oilfield is
owned and operated by Petroleos Mexicanes, PEMEX, the national
oil company of Mexico.
Supply boats in Mexico range from 170 feet to 250 feet. The ones
I commanded were 167 ft. by 40 ft. (the Gulf Moon) and 165 ft. by
40 ft. (the Louis Tide). They typically have two engines
totaling 3000 hp to 5000 hp. They have a bow thruster enabling
sidewards movement.
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The Gulf Moon is a 1982 Halter Marine Supply Boat, well built and
suited for her tasks. She has a gross tonnage of 674 international
tons and 296 domestic tons. She has a large steam driven pile
driver on her deck weighing several hundred tons. She is a real
work horse.
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The Louis Tide is also built by Halter Marine. She has a
gross tonnage of 807 Panama Canal
tons and 289 domestic tons.
To the right is the larger Louis Tide with its high stack. Gulf
Moon and Louis Tide have what's called a low stack.
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The Gulf Moon is replenishing a work ship and dive boat.
We brought a refrigerator freezer and other equipment to the Agile
on the left.
We are replenishing helium bottles for the Toisa Puma on the right.
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A heavy lift is being accomplished by the main crane of a derrick barge.
It is so nice to have calm seas when the lifts are this heavy and large.
Sometimes supply boats are positioned into tight spaces just
like crew boats. I am backing the Gulf Moon into a very small
space between the wire cables of the anchors to the left and
a Stinger floating in the water to the right. Don't try this
at home, especially if there is any weather.
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Oilfield work is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no
weekends, holidays or other special days. We work 90 days and
have 30 days vacation, which gives us 90 days of vacation a year.
The work continues through the night. There are 4 watches crewed by
two groups. You work the 6 to 12 watch or the 12 to 6 watch which is
12 hours work per day. You eat, bathe and sleep in the other 12 hours.
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The bridge of the Gulf Moon is fully equipped. It has a gyro
compass as well as magnetic compass. It has 4 VHF radios and
an SSB radio with ringer, not including the handhelds. She is equipped
with two RADAR's and three spotlights. AIS is very handy, giving the names,
bearings and distances of the vessels around you. This allows us to
contact conflicting traffic by name eliminating a lot of the guessing.
We have a variety of rudder controls with varying sensitivity. The
autopilot is rarely used.
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Like most oilfield work boats, the Gulf Moon has a second helm facing aft
so the OOW (Officer of the Watch) can see where the work is being
done as he maneuvers the vessel. This station has a full set of
controls which can be selected to operate from either station.
Of course everything is in reverse. Pushing on the gear selector
puts the vessel in reverse which appears to be forward when seated
at the aft station.
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Someone in some country had a lot of free time on his hands. He
created a real work of art. There must be miles of cordage
forming all types of marlinspike all over the boat, but especially
in the wheel house. I've never seen anything like this.
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Someone in some country had a lot of free time on his hands. He
created a real work of art. There must be miles of cordage
forming all types of marlinspike all over the boat, but especially
in the wheel house. I've never seen anything like this.
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Another tight squeeze alongside a derrick barge with a platform
in front of us and anchor cables behind us. Sliding into this
position requires the utmost care and skill.
On the right a tug has taken the derrick barge under tow, a normal
proce3dure in the oil field. What is different, is that we are
still tied alongside the barge unloading our cargo. This puts a
lot of strain on our mooring lines.
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The photo on the left is why we are reluctant to use our autopilot.
An unattended autopilot led to this vessel hitting a fixed platform,
wiping out the quarters platform. Thinking the captain dead, the
mate responsible committed suicide. Although injured, the captain
survived. I thought this was folklore until I saw the pictures
and reports.
The supply boat on the right is in a bad winter storm in the North
Sea. Doesn't look like a fun ride, does it? I wonder what the
Captain and crew were thinking at this time. I went through bigger
seas than these when I was in the north Sea, but luckily I was
on a much bigger ship, a self propelled derrick barge.
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