A year had passed since my initial visit to one of the many oil rigs parked up in the Cromarty Firth, way up in the Highlands of Scotland. There was a lot of oil rig we’d missed the first time around, many of the internal areas were locked up, and there were other kinds of oil rigs parked up that we hadn’t even looked at. So, when Bob aka Exploring the Unbeaten Path suggested I sail him out there, I thought it would be good to have a better look around. And a better look around we got...
They really go to town locking everything up as part of the cold-stacking process. You’d think, then, that they would removed all the keys to the padlocks they used, right? Well, you’d be wrong. If you can find a sneaky way in to the office block, you’ll be rewarded with a board full of neatly hung keys, along with a sheet detailing the location of the padlock each key unlocks. Unrestricted access FTW!
Now, looking around all the places you can unlock is going to take a while, so you’ll need to stay for the day. If you’re going to spend a day on one of these rigs, well, you might as well stay the night too, right? Fuck it, book Monday off work and stay for two nights. Why the fuck not? We made these floating monstrosities our home for three days, making good use of their facilities.
Some of the stacked rigs
There are one or two things to bear in mind if you’re illegally camping on property owned by some of the richest companies in the world. First and foremost, you need to take a few beers. Second, you need to make sure you’re not going at a time of heightened security, like for example when the UKs largest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier is due to park up alongside the oil rigs. And thirdly, you need to keep it off YouTube.
Well, we had front row seats while the UKs largest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier parked up alongside us. Bob posted it on YouTube. And worst of all, we forgot the fucking beer!!
We did, however, remember a couple of disposable BBQ’s, a nice pile of raw meat and a bottle Reggae Reggae Sauce. It would be rude not to make good use of rigs galley…
You can guess what happened, can’t you?
Yeah, we soon moved the BBQ outside!
So, what of this shitstorm you may have heard about then? It didn’t take long for Bob’s video on YouTube to make its way to the head offices of Transocean, the owners of a couple of the rigs we had visited. There were a few comments from people who work offshore mentioning they were pushing for a police investigation and their lawyers were working with Diamond Drilling, the owners of the other rigs we boarded, to build a case against us. Obviously Bob removed the video and in the end we didn’t hear anything about it, either from police or lawyers. It did get in the news though…
Bla bla blaaaa.....
The Ocean Princess
Details
The Ocean Princess is a H-3 Semisub Midwater Floater built by Aker in 1975. It can operate in 1,500 ft of water and drill to a depth of 25,000 ft. It is 229 x 199 ft wide and 120 ft high (excluding derrick).
Starting off on the top deck, where all the drilling action happened....
The "Dog House" was the drilling control room
From there we'll head over to the bridge, where the oil rig was "driven" while in transit
The radio room
Heading below deck a little bit we soon find the engine room. These four beasts propelled the rig while in transit and generated all the electricity needed
And next to the engine room, the main control rooms...
Mud shakers
Next, we'll head back to the deck to look at the cranes and other bits...
Port crane
View from the starboard crane
One of the four anchor control booths with anchor winch behind
Lifeboats
One of the many workshops
Continued...
They really go to town locking everything up as part of the cold-stacking process. You’d think, then, that they would removed all the keys to the padlocks they used, right? Well, you’d be wrong. If you can find a sneaky way in to the office block, you’ll be rewarded with a board full of neatly hung keys, along with a sheet detailing the location of the padlock each key unlocks. Unrestricted access FTW!
Now, looking around all the places you can unlock is going to take a while, so you’ll need to stay for the day. If you’re going to spend a day on one of these rigs, well, you might as well stay the night too, right? Fuck it, book Monday off work and stay for two nights. Why the fuck not? We made these floating monstrosities our home for three days, making good use of their facilities.
Some of the stacked rigs
There are one or two things to bear in mind if you’re illegally camping on property owned by some of the richest companies in the world. First and foremost, you need to take a few beers. Second, you need to make sure you’re not going at a time of heightened security, like for example when the UKs largest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier is due to park up alongside the oil rigs. And thirdly, you need to keep it off YouTube.
Well, we had front row seats while the UKs largest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier parked up alongside us. Bob posted it on YouTube. And worst of all, we forgot the fucking beer!!
We did, however, remember a couple of disposable BBQ’s, a nice pile of raw meat and a bottle Reggae Reggae Sauce. It would be rude not to make good use of rigs galley…
You can guess what happened, can’t you?
Yeah, we soon moved the BBQ outside!
So, what of this shitstorm you may have heard about then? It didn’t take long for Bob’s video on YouTube to make its way to the head offices of Transocean, the owners of a couple of the rigs we had visited. There were a few comments from people who work offshore mentioning they were pushing for a police investigation and their lawyers were working with Diamond Drilling, the owners of the other rigs we boarded, to build a case against us. Obviously Bob removed the video and in the end we didn’t hear anything about it, either from police or lawyers. It did get in the news though…
Bla bla blaaaa.....
The Ocean Princess
Details
The Ocean Princess is a H-3 Semisub Midwater Floater built by Aker in 1975. It can operate in 1,500 ft of water and drill to a depth of 25,000 ft. It is 229 x 199 ft wide and 120 ft high (excluding derrick).
Starting off on the top deck, where all the drilling action happened....
The "Dog House" was the drilling control room
From there we'll head over to the bridge, where the oil rig was "driven" while in transit
The radio room
Heading below deck a little bit we soon find the engine room. These four beasts propelled the rig while in transit and generated all the electricity needed
And next to the engine room, the main control rooms...
Mud shakers
Next, we'll head back to the deck to look at the cranes and other bits...
Port crane
View from the starboard crane
One of the four anchor control booths with anchor winch behind
Lifeboats
One of the many workshops
Continued...
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