I had hoped that someone might follow up on this thread as there is a story to be told and unless I have missed it, it has not yet been told.
So, in the period immediately before the advent of the 704, here are a couple of them.
When I stepped on board the Wimpey Seadog in '75 as mate, never having been on one of these vessels before, my first impression in the accommodation was that the lavatories and accommodation stank. The ship, to use a Scottish expression, was minging. Having always thought a ship could be measured by the state of her "lavvies" first impressions were not happy ones,so I turned to and cleaned them out. If they were good enough for me to use, then they would be clean. The old antennae had already informed me that telling the crew to clean them out would be offering up the chance to get a response I did not want.
We sailed out within a couple of hours, some of the crew having vanished and been replaced and we picked up enough to comply with the minimum laid down for working.
We set off on our 3 day trip west of Shetland. The weather had other ideas. We sheltered in the lee of the islands frequently. I had never experienced conditions like it for discomfort. Because she carried deck cargo, and was a stiff vessel typically of that type, she rolled violently, pitched ferociously as an added bonus, even leaked through the wheelhouse windows 40 ft. up in heavy head seas and because of the low freeboard was constantly awash on deck.
Unused to such movement, I often looked with alarm out of the bridge at walls of green water as we rolled heavily over and thought she would not make it. It took some time to get used to it.
Not a great deal of work was actually done at the rigs. In those days, the ships ran in to the rigs, and about half a cable off (?) dropped anchor in say, 400-500 ft., ran in digging in the anchor, turned round and then backed up to the rig before securing to two ropes lowered down by crane.
Most of the work that trip was done by snatching, that is, backing up and holding her by engine movements, because it was too rough to tie up. Without a bow thruster, it required good handling by the master.
We were snatching on one of the semis, backloading collars, which if not properly secured in the slings, tended to open up in the bundle on landing on deck.
We were close to one rig, lying at a very awkward 45 degree angle and a bundle came down, opened up, started to roll as we rolled heavily as the spare mate fell on the sea covered deck and a collar rolled up his thigh, as I did a Highland sword dance around another one.
We either steamed back to Aberdeen with him in considerable pain or we lifted him up on the basket. The latter was done with considerable difficulty.
We got back to Aberdeen three weeks after we set off on the 3 day trip. And I realised then why she had been in such a **** house state when I first stepped on her.
In those days, you did 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off. At the end of the 6 weeks as I was about to pick up my bag to start leave I was called to the telephone kiosk which was our communication centre with head office in Gt. Yarmouth. The Old Man had just flatly refused to do another trip again without relief and I was suddenly master, turning round within hours never having towed, handled one of these ships, or anchor handled.
Those were the days, as they said. Wimpey's paid the laid down minimum and often had problems retaining crews. Although they put on board the best food I have ever seen on board ships, cooks turned over and were generally speaking, not good. On one 5 day spell, either 4 or 5 cooks came and went, the longest lasting for the only trip we did in that time, a day and a half.