This was from 1983 (?) when I was a roustabout/floorhand on it in the Gulf. It was under contract to Chevron.
Picture added on 03 August 2007
Comments:
I was a mudlogger on that rig when it first came to the Gulf from California. That big white box on the port side is my logging unit. Neat. Thanks for posting this Kevin.
Still called the Coral Sea, operating since the early 90's as a diamond mining vessel of the coast of South Atlantic off Namibia/South Africa and very much still recognisable.
Wow.. what a memory.. I did the sea trials and the first test drill of the Coral Sea when it left the Levingston ship yards down in Orange, TX. We did the first test drill off the coast of LA. After the Coral Sea, I did sea trials on the Java Sea. I decided not to go on the Java Sea after it was tested and sent overseas. Opted to go to college instead. The Java Sea sank in 83 losing 81 souls. I should get out my old photos of the Coral Sea and scan them and post them. My father was also on the Glomar Explorer. He had many stories that he shared with me before he died about the capturing of the sub and how that whole operation was screwed up by a loud mouth reporter that basically killed the project before it could be completed.
I was on the Glomar Java Sea in Gulf of Mexico and off Calif just before it went to South China Sea. I have many pictures of ship and crew.
Added by MG on 09 January 2009.
Great ship, I was with Texas Electronics in the 70's we installed the electronics and I was on sea trials with her, really enjoyed the ride. Beautiful piece of equipment.
I started work as Ordinary Seamen/Deck Hand on the Glomar Coral Sea in Orange, Texas in June 1974. We drilled a couple holes for EXXON in the Gulf of Mexico then we loaded up and headed for Alexandria, Egypt (It took a month). We were then under contract with ESSO to drill in the Nile River Delta in the Mediterranean Sea. We were working 2 on and 2 off and living in Malta (Had a great time). After 6 months of drilling in the Mediterranean we drug up and headed for California to drill in the Santa Barbra Channel. I worked there for about 6 months until I got ran off by Dan Watson. I moved back to Houston where I landed a job on the Glomar Pacific in August 1977. I am still in Houston and not in the oil industry.
I was a mudlogger on the Coral Sea when she was drilling for a consortium of oil companies in the Santa Barbara Channel in the mid-seventies. Did two deep exploratory wells, one managed by Gulf, the other by Texaco, before being shipped to the Naval Reserve in Taft and then, finally, to Barstow for geothermal well logging.
My Dad was a Crane operator when it went to Egypt and we lived on Malta. Great times, still think of the folks my Pop worked with then. He was there off the coast of Calf. had a Heart attack and that was the end of his run. He was one of the original crew when it went underway. In Memory Of Earl Giesy Jan 17,1994.
I was an engineer aboard the Glomar Java Sea on it's last ocean crossing, from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Several months before, two people were killed on the ship, by falling through a pipe hatch to the bottom of the ship.
WOW, I was on the Coral Sea in the Santa Barbara Channel on a deep well for Texaco. I remember natural gas leaking out around the outside of the casing and a big concern about getting it under control. There is a platform there now, still producing a lot of Gas. The rest of my time on the Coral Sea is sort of a fog... 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
When the Glomar Java Sea arrived in Hong Kong from San Francisco, after its last ocean crossing, a crew member calling himself "Jim" went to the captain, and identified himself as having been specially assigned as a "secret agent," to keep a file on which crew members had smoked dope or consumed alcohol on the voyage.
The group got the name "the dirty dozen;" they were fired, and sent home separately. some of them are probably alive today, thanks to "Jim."
I inspected the drill string in port Hueneme Ca. before it went to Viet Nam. I was offered a job on the ship, I backed out at the last moment. I was 22 yrs. old at the time. My condolences to all the families !!!
I enjoyed reading your comments, my father Doicus Langley, was the hull welding forman on the Glomar Drill Ships that were built at Levingston Shipbuilding. I also work on 2 of the Grand Isle Class ships as a shipfitter and layout man. I was hull plannner on the Java Sea, and the larger ships Pacific and Atlantic, developed erection breackdown and ordered the steel for both hulls. We worked with some of the best in the industry at the time. Levingston Shipbuilding is only a memory now -- it is no more.
I was in Orange for eight weeks while the Coral Sea was being finished. I was an assistant derrickman at the beginning and remember Doug Pruit and later worked opposite Earl Giesy as a crane operator. Sorry about Earl's passing. He was one teriffic guy.
Wow!, glad I came across this page about the Coral Sea. My self and old brother in law Ray Rowe, I also remember Sam Morgan he worked derriks worked on that Drillship from brand new. I was just starting out then a roustabout working for crain operator Jim or Frank. Been so long, great ship & great experice. You all went on to Egypt, I moved on to the Grand Banks in the gulf then went on to the Grand Isle were I met the Coral Sea again in the Santa Barbra Channel. We were drilling close to each other.
Added by Ronald Perry on 13 May 2010.
I worked on the Glomar Coral Sea in The Gulf of Mexico during the same time. I was a Roughneck and Blue was our toolpusher and Jimmy was our Driller from California
Added by Michael Desormeaux on 27 July 2010.
I worked on the Coral Sea as a roustabout and roughneck. I remember Jimmy from Californica. I remember Blue also. there was another toolie from Cali whose name escapes me. Ed, I think. a jackass if there ever was one, and unsuited for offshore duty. Ed Clark. that's it. I was and am still from Texas, and remember the rig well. the pic does it justice. one hitch, as we were coming onboard for our gig, a workboat appeared alongside delivering a load of paint. a big load. at the end of the hitch, I knew everything I ever needed to know about repainting a drillship from stem to stern in two weeks.
Education is a wonderful thing. the coral sea is still alive?
Those were the days! I worked in the engine room aboard the Coral Sea for 5 years. moved on to the Pacific, Java Sea, High Island 1X, Moray Firth; then I took my chief engineer's license home, and hung it up. I've been fully retired for 6 years, currently drawing social security and a state pension. Life is good.
The Coral Sea is now opertated by De Beeers Marine in South Africa. She is still a drill ship, sampling and mining diamonds off the West Coast, mostly in Namibia waters.
Wow! I have a framed picture of the Glomar Coral Sea hanging in my office. Got it when my Aunt died in 2004 and just now googled the name and found this! I don't know why she had it. She worked for The Department of the Interior from the '60's to retirement in the '90's...wish I would have asked her about it...
Thanks for the memories your picture evoked. I was storekeeper on board the Coral Sea around '83-'84, drilling about 200 miles out in the Gulf. Fulton Rivette, aka "Blue", was the toolpusher, and one of the most colorful characters I've ever met. Dave Landers of Las Vegas, an ex-submariner was Bos'n, I believe, Capt. JJ Lester, an Australian, I seem to recall, was married to a Federal Judge and lived in Alabama. He was sent by the company to recover the bodies of the crew of the Java Sea, our sister ship, which was sunk by a mine while drilling in disputed waters off the China-North Vietnamese border. Leonard from Arkansas was the operator of the crane located right over the storeroom, and Tim, I think. Other names are slowly popping into my head as I sit here typing...Undoubtedly the most interesting job I ever had! Glad to hear she's still afloat. Best wishes to all former Glomar hands,
I am a member of the infamous, Dirty Dozen, worked on the Java sea for about 5 years then fired in Hong Kong by Jim or what ever his name really was. But you're right, I probably wouldn’t be here today if I had not been a party boy back then. Now I own a business with over 500 hundred employees. You just never know what life as in store for you. Lost a lot good men when the Java Sea went down.
Yes I remember the day I joined the "Coral" Isaac Coronado, the first person I was to meet that day in Alexandria Military Airport, was the very same person who fitted me up with a job on the Glomar Three out in the North Sea in the 70s. After a brief grounding as a roustabout and roughnecking saw me end up working as an oiler in the engine rooms of Glomars Three , Five and eventually the Glomar Coral Sea .To all my fellow , shipmates, remember , i wore a hearing aid , i had dark curly hair , remember we flew from Alexandra and were met by five Egyptian Jets on our way by plotted course to Glomar Coral SEA .Good to remember you all , Jim.
I was a wire-line logger on Glomar V off the coast of Libya in the mid-60s. Anyone know what happened to that ship?
Added by Jim C on 11 September 2011.
I would have been with the dirty dozen but because of a motorcycle accident. I was on injured leave and worked on a few other rigs before the asked me back to the Java Sea. was only out for 2 weeks when I returned to the rig and because Global was always so tight with their monies they asked me to stay longer and work with C and D crew and when I refused they fired me. That was the best decision I ever made in my whole life. Because while I was still in Hong Kong after the Crew change I was when we herd the rig had sunk. Long Live B crew Baby and God Bless the Hands and many friends I lost on the Java Sea. <<<< Mark Thevenot>>>>> ( The TIV )
I worked as the night radio operator on the Glomar Java Sea from June 77 to Nov. 82. I am still in touch with some of the family members who lost loved ones whan the ship sank.
Added by Bush Bernard on 02 December 2007.