Say Hello to Mr. Charlie!!

Morgan City, Louisiana is an important city with regards to offshore oil drilling and production in the Gulf of Mexico. Many large companies that provide equipment, technology and personnel to offshore drilling and production platforms are based out of the area.

So when we discovered that the "International Petroleum Museum & Exposition" was located in Morgan City, we decided that we'd better give it a visit. It's a good thing we had our GPS because we twisted and turned our way through the downtown and then neighborhoods of Morgan City until we had no idea where we were!  We needed to get there in time for the 10:00 tour (they only do two each day) and we finally came to a dead-end and found this:

Not much to look at, but a couple of other folks were waiting on the tour, and we quickly found the tour guide, Bryce.

Bryce showing us a tiny drill bit.

It turns out that Bryce has worked in the industry for many years as a commercial offshore diver working on the rigs and production facilities, and later as a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) operator. There is such a difference between taking a tour led by a guide who has learned the material but never done the work, and someone who has actually worked at it for decades. We were off to a good start!

Our small group started inside of the building where historical equipment was on display, like this hand-operated air pump which fed air to the diver below the surface. The divers certainly hoped that the operators on the surface were paying attention to their job!!

Several types of diving helmets were on display, including the Mark V Diving Helmet used by the US Navy and made more famous by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie "Men of Honor". 

In addition to historic items there is more modern equipment like this control console for an Underwater ROV. It turns out that remotely operated vehicles are now used to accomplish many of the tasks formerly performed by divers, so there is a large demand for operators. Bryce hopes to get this station hooked up to a robotic arm mounted outside of the museum so that folks can try their luck at performing tasks with it. 

After finishing his introduction, Bryce led our group out to the star of the show, Mr. Charlie. Mr. Charlie was the first transportable, submersible, reusable oil drilling platform, and ultimately drilled hundreds of oil wells in the Gulf, with a cumulative depth of 2.3 million feet!

The concept of a transportable, submersible drilling rig was developed by Alden "Doc" LaBorde, a graduate of the Naval Academy and a veteran of WWII. He was working for Kerr McGee, a large oil production company when he came up with his idea for the rig. He was unable to interest any of the major drilling companies (including Kerr McGee) so he resigned and went off in search of investors. He found Mr. Charles Murphy, of the tiny Murphy Oil Company of El Dorado, Arkansas who committed $500,000 dollars to the project. Together they formed Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company "ODECO" and built the rig, named Mr. Charlie after Charles Murphy's father. 

And the rest is history!  Mr. Charlie could be placed on a barge, floated out to water up to 40' deep, and then sunk onto the bottom. From there it became a self-sufficient island for the crew of 58 men. In addition to the drilling equipment itself, there were crew quarters, a kitchen and dining room, recreation room, etc. 

Room for Four Roughnecks

As you might imagine conditions were pretty primitive on the rig. Bryce noted that the men worked 12 hour shifts, with no television, telephones, internet, etc. for entertainment in their off hours. 

Mr. Charlie drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

We were amazed to see young men working on Mr. Charlie during the tour, and learned that it is still used as an on-shore training center for oil platform workers! Classes of prospective workers spend several weeks on the rig getting used to the spartan conditions and learning various tasks like welding, equipment maintenance, drilling, etc. Sometimes they are able to get culinary students on board to prepare meals, but the class that we saw was being fed with food that the owners wife cooked at home and brought in. 

Kitchen

The business end of the rig is the derrick and drilling floor. Bryce explained how drilling pipe was hoisted up into the derrick, a drilling bit attached to the end, and then lowered onto the sea floor to drill. 

30' Lengths of Drill Pipe

Drill Bits

We learned all about the life of a oil platform worker, including what a "Billy Pugh" basket was used for. In good weather helicopters were used to transfer crews on and off of the rig. But in bad weather the Billy Pugh Basket was used to hoist men from the deck of the rig and lower them to a bobbing crew ship waiting below. 

Billy Pugh Basket

Apparently the ride could get pretty wild, and occasionally the crane operator would have to dunk the basket full of men into the ocean to stop it from swinging violently. Bryce mentioned that rig workers always looked forward to getting home after their weeks aboard the rig, but did not look forward to riding "Billy". 

Money in a Jar

The object of all of this equipment and technology is oil, extracted from beneath the Gulf of Mexico. As drilling moved into waters deeper than 40', Mr. Charlie became obsolete and was retired from active service in the mid-1980's. But it carries on as a training center for young roughnecks as well as a museum for those of us interested in offshore oil production.