Texaco Copenhagen

After attending an Electronics course at South Shields Marine and Technical College back in 1972. To be precise, October 1972 to April 1973. I Joined the VLCC Texaco Copenhagen. (VLCC = Very Large Crude Carrier) in other words a supertanker. She was 253,000 Tons Deadweight - which meant she carried 253,000 tons of crude Oil. As a few random facts she was 1050 feet long or a fifth of a mile. When fully loaded She needed approx 75 feet of water just to float. Using the onboard pumps, we could fully load or discharge a cargo in around 15 hours. Each Anchor weighed around 30 tonnes (see the pic. of the Anchor chain)

Fascinating thing to work on, but not a lot of soul. and not a lot of shoreleave, When I joined her she was at anchor in Milford Haven, We went non stop to the Gulf, Ras Tanurrah if I remember rightly, back to Europoort (Rotterdam) The Helicopter picture is the Europoort Pilot coming aboard somewhere out in the North Sea. After that, back to the Gulf and then across to the American Virgin Islands. I eventually paid off when she went to Lisbon to go into Dry Dock for a service. 174 days on board and three half days shore leave. Travelled around 49,500 miles