Gents
For those interested I have started to add photos to my gallery of the Iolair from 1981/82 era after her introduction into the Forties field.
I stood by her during the building at Scott Lithgows on the Clyde and spent two years on her in the Forties field before transferring over to the platforms.
I must be one of the few to hold the claim to fame of Turning the Iolair down. I was on the Forties Kiwi in South Shields middle dock, and just before she sailed for the Magnus, the Catering Super came on and there was a qeue to see him to beg for jobs on the Iolair. When I presented myself to him he said "Now then lad, don't tell me you want to join the Iolair" "No I said, I want to go back deep sea, I hate the North Sea, never wanted to join the Kiwi in the first place"
"Not many like you around Bonny Lad" he replied.
What became of her the last I heard she was down South America way somewhere and a lot of the original crew were still on board her.
Iolair was purchased by Navigare (or a group - fronted by them) and is on contract to Pemex in the Bay of Campeche.
I think there are only around 6 Europeans on it now, the remainder of the crew being local.
Iolair was purchased by Navigare (or a group - fronted by them) and is on contract to Pemex in the Bay of Campeche.
I think there are only around 6 Europeans on it now, the remainder of the crew being local.
Al Not quite that many, only two, Ian Dodsworth 2/E and Dilwyn Williams/ETO (and I'm retiring this year)
No. Dave Edworthy.
Leckies on the Iolair, who stood by at the building and then in the North Sea were.
Myself, George Simpson, Chris Hairsine, Terry Sharp, Brian Symons and Mike O'Connor.
We did a work rota three weeks on, three weeks off and while on board we did first week night shift, second week Dayshift and third week Daywork. My immediate back to back was Terry Sharp.
I only just recently found out that Bob Smith the original CE on Iolair died a few years ago. I met Stuart Andrew her original 2E in Vancouver in 2003 ,as far as I know he is still around.
The original C/E's were Bob Smith and Laurie Curtis who had both been Chiefs on the Forties Kiwi.
Stuart Andrew was indeed one of the four 2/E's.
Roy Grant, George Robson, and ? were the others. The memory banks are letting me down for the last one Im afraid.
Bob smith was a gentlemen, sailed with him on a couple of tankers before the Kiwi and Iolair, got on great with him and Laurie, in fact we had a really great bunch of guys on the Iolair.
Probably helped we were all together for a couple of years at Lithgows standing by the build of the Iolair and the social life was something else!
Remember Laurie Curtis on the Kiwi one hell of a nice guy.Some of the ABs were out in a zodiac one day and picked up an oil covered Guilimot bought back it back aboard took it down the engine and with the of the help of the Greasers cleaned it up. They then got one of the big cotton waste bins and filled it with sea water put it so said bird could get in and out.!t ended up living down the main engine.The down below crowd called the bird Laurie because they reckoned that bird walked like him feet at ten to two.In the end as soon as it recovered it jumped up on to the rail took one last look around and went of into the sunset.
Hi I joined Iolair in June 88 as 4th engineer & left in June 94. First tour we went to Piper alpha & near enough second tour to Ocean Odessey. Terry & Mike were still on board & Gerry from NI as leckies when I left. Some good people there - Jack Guy was 2nd Eng.
Hi I joined Iolair in June 88 as 4th engineer & left in June 94. First tour we went to Piper alpha & near enough second tour to Ocean Odessey. Terry & Mike were still on board & Gerry from NI as leckies when I left. Some good people there - Jack Guy was 2nd Eng.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ships Nostalgia
1.1M posts
124.8K members
Since 2004
A forum community dedicated to Ships, boats, and vessel owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about crew logs, maritime history, shipping lines, shipwrecks, cruise ships, weather, and more!