We are on the Publications Page - and I say this because having upgraded to Joomla 3.4 all my previous postings on this site were expunged, either due to a failure on my part or a failure on the part of my chosen server, which timed out at 89%. But I did not see that anything else was likely since my old site has become more or less impossible to work on and this has prompted me to learn new skills. But enough of my current problems. Let's get on.

This page is intended to be the point of entry into my publications pages, and it starts with "RigMoves". Back in 1994 I was briefly (for 3 months) captain of a small Halter Marine 180 foot anchor-handler out in the oilfields of Saudi Arabia. It was a really interesting job, particularly after one of the barge-movers had visited us to give us some sort of instruction and I asked him why they had not assigned us to any rig moves. He was pretty dismissive, but I suggested the they should give us a go, and sure enough we went off and played our part in a jack-up move. There-after we participated in every rig move they had going and were mainly assigned to a jack-up crane barge which had to be pushed into difficult corners of the GOSPs (Gas Oil Separation Platforms). It was really interesting work and a tonic for those of us brought up in the North Sea where close contact with anything would result in damage. Typically on one night we were moving our crane barge from one place to another and as happens at the end of the day, darkness fell, so the barge put down its legs and we tied up alongside and went to sleep.

So...you have seen a photo of my ship, the Pike and in 2016 I can say the they don't make them like that any more. Two GM prime movers gave it about 4000 bhp, and a number of smaller engines all identical, were capable of driving some essential system, from the mud pumps to the anchor-handling winch. They really don't make them like that any more.

Anyway, I had taken  with me my "portable" computer which was about the size of a suitcase, and because my cabin was not quite large enough to take a chair I had had one of the ABs, with aspirations to be a carpenter, construct a small desk on the bridge, and I used to sit there working away - as I am doing at this very moment - and realising that I could not actually write what was happening out there, because someone would take my discs off me, I wrote a short story to remind me about events and the whole atmosphere of working in the oil fields. And sure enough the Saudi customs took my discs off me, and I only got them back with the help of the administrator of the company I was working for.

This is a 2022 update. Time has passed and RigMoves is no more. It was almost published but then discarded by the publisher, despite the fact that it had become a different book altogether. I have since written further novels, and postal costs have now risen to the point that it has become almost impossible for ordinary people like me to post anything. I still have hard copies of the three technical books I have self published but am imitating an ebook process, in the hope that people will find it useful.

At the 2024 update I have included a novel as a possible purchase an ebook in the form of a pdf. It is about a ship, so for the small fee of £5 give it a go.