[30] years later, Ocean Ranger tragedy deeply felt

[Thirty] years after a vicious winter storm ripped across the Atlantic Ocean and helped sink the world's largest and most advanced oil rig, memories of the Ocean Ranger tragedy are still painful and fresh.

All 84 crew members died when the Ocean Ranger toppled and then sank on the Grand Banks in the early hours of Feb. 15, 1982.

"It's still — the way it happened, there's no closure. It doesn't feel like there's any," said Connie Foley, who was 19 when her father Ron and his colleagues died at sea...

In the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea the Alexander Kielland went down March 27 1980. Of the 212 people aboard 123 were killed, making it the worst disaster in Norwegian offshore history since WWII.

I had been on the Kielland a few weeks prior to this. Some of my friends went down with the Kielland, and some as I with the luck of the draw were not on board at the time.

Drilling in the North Sea back in the late 70s and early 80s was at the cutting edge of our ability to work in those conditions. They paid us a lot of money and we knew it was a dangerous job. The sadly ironic part about the Kielland is what sunk it was a simple stress crack in cross member where a sonar device to measure water depth had been welded. The weld had not been properly stressed relieved and thus led to the failure of the underwater cross member and thus ultimate failure of the structure. Even worse was the fact that the Kielland was scheduled to return to port in a few weeks for inspection and refit. The fault would have been discovered in the refit and inspection.

I lost a few friends that I had worked with. They went down doing what they loved and that is not a bad way to go.

The North Sea is a lovely and alluring mistress that will sing the siren’s song to your ear. If you take her hand and dance to that song always know, she is a a vicious bitch and will take your life if you turn your back on her.
The North Sea can be your enemy and foe, but at the same time she is your mistress and lover, she will never be you friend nor wife.

I miss my friends. If I were a young man I would do it again, and I assure you my lost friends would do the same.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.