Position:  Chief Mate, SDPO

Company: Cal-Dive International

Time: July ‘03 – October ’09

Web: www.Caldive.com

The Uncle John has been the primary influence to my career to date, having worked my way through the ranks from a Watchkeeping DPO up to the position of Chief Mate SDPO.  Do to the vessels configuration as a Semi Submersible Multi Service Vessel I have been able to experience & learn from a wide array of various oilfield tasks performed that would otherwise require experience on several different ship types to match.

Some examples of the various type of work include, but are not limited to:

Air & Saturation Diving

ROV Operations

Coring & Well Intervention

Plug & Abandonment

Riser & Pipeline Installation

Heavy Lift Operations

The last part of my stay on the Uncle John was spent as part of Chevron’s “Hurricane Recovery Team”.  This involves scrapping platforms that have been knocked over during hurricane season here in the Gulf, installing wellheads & ultimately shutting down the well.

I was also serving as Chief Mate during 2 major refits in the ship yard.  This involved liaising & directing ship yard workers & overseeing a large project.

Additionally, my duties have included:

Helicopter Landing Officer,

Ballast Control Operator in charge of vessel stability during all operations, including fueling

Maintenance of the vessels Lifting Gear registry

Stability Calculations

Running the Deck

…and the numerous other daily operations that are the standard practice  of seafarers & DPO’s, such as navigation, file maintenance & ensuring safe position keeping.

Position: Second Mate, DPO

Company: Gulfmark Offshore

Time: Aug ‘07 – Sept ‘07

Web: www.Gulfmark.com

The Highland Fortress is an Ulstein designed UT755L - 5,450 BHP Platform Supply / ROV Vessel.  My time onboard was spent working for Allseas as a pipe line touchdown monitoring vessel, working alongside the Solitaire.  She was equipped with 2 ROVs for that purpose.

It was interesting to see the pipe lay process from the other side, while enjoying the  atmosphere that comes when sailing on a smaller vessel with fewer crew members.

The maneuverability of this vessel was excellent & really helped to improve my ship handling skills.

Postion: DPO

Company: Tidewater

Time: June ‘03

Web: www.tdw.com

The Midnight Eagle is a pipe lay barge that gave me my first insight into that particular offshore operation.  She was pretty basic as far as the DP side of things went with only one thruster on each corner.  Being a barge she couldn’t legally undertake transits on her own so we had tugs standing by at all times.

Working off of coastal Louisiana during the dog days of summer certainly has its challenges; the heat & the bugs for a start.  But while I may have been unsure of my decision in the beginning I ended up learning a lot about the culture of the offshore industry in the US Gulf, which stood me in good stead for the coming years.

This was also my first experience with rigid pipe lay; a specialized sub-set of the offshore industry & the one I have chosen to focus on.