| Description | Tape 1 Side A: DENIS AMOS SHEFFIELD born 18 September 1927 in Mansfield. Spent 25 years away with BP. Eldest of 4 children. Paternal family from Mansfield area. Father a coal miner. Recalls grandfather, his garden, allotment. Close family. Grandmother very knowledgeable, on Education Committee, had lovely singing voice - she and a music teacher started own passion for music. Explains musical preferences. Recalls grandfather playing organ, grandmother singing. Maternal grandmother died young. Describes parents. Wonderful childhood in spite of the Depression. Recalls difficulty finding clothes, mother making several meals from stew pot. Now realises mother went without. She was a worrier. Taught respect, good manners by parents. Reference to poem on respect, life in Wood Street. Father's feeling about coalmining as job. Details re his work, hazards. Went to school in Mansfield, enjoyed it. Later was a governor, on PTA. Comments further on love for music, favourite singers. In top average at school, top in nature study. Left school at 14 in 1941. Parents not interested in politics. Mansfield a Labour area. Own position. Had no career aspirations. Recalls options, started with milk round. Decided to work at Eakring oil field. People knew nothing about oilfield. Explains. Recalls first day, taken on as Junior Assistant in Production Laboratory, D'Arcy Exploration. Recalls job interview. Never told of secrecy of Eakring Dukes Wood operation but clear that mouth should be kept shut. Details re Dukes Wood in 1941, equipment, development of oil wells, manhandling of equipment. Explains 1939 discovery of oil leading to peak production on cue when desperately needed in 1943, decline after 1945. Feeling about whether coincidence or not.
Tape 1 Side B: First duties as Junior Assistant in Production Laboratory was taking samples from wells to lab, checking for water. Explains importance of testing. Details re transport of oil by train, collecting station. Only small water tolerance allowed. Vulnerability of oil going by train to Punpherston during war. Describes ingenious method of testing and measuring oil for water using a 'thief'. Reason for using rail transport to Pumpherston. Comments on fact that Germans didn't bomb trains - sitting targets. Reference to Petroleum Board. Recalls colleagues in Production Department. Recalls kindness and courtesy of head of oil production, Jan Bernard, a Dutchman. Further details of work. Did production work for 3 years. Details of working hours. Production slowly built up in early years of war. Describes high quality of oil, suitability of aviation spirit for Spitfires, Hurricanes. Didn't talk to family about work. Explains. Recalls being snowed in at work for 3 days, had to keep on sampling. Finally over 200 wells in Dukes Wood. Americans came in March 1943 for two reasons: their labour and their equipment. Recalls American policy of not selling equipment to foreign countries, solution proposed by Philip Southwell, of D'Arcy Petroleum, to bring drillers with equipment. Recalls day Americans arrived, their surprise at blackout, meeting first American. Mentions price of meals, 'Al Capone' overcoat given by an American. Reference to Well 55. Recalls having to be closely in attendance with Americans to sample wells etc. Describes the equipment brought by Americans, its versatility. Recalls sayings by JW, a man of few words. Story of a memorable trip with him. Americans stayed at Kelham Hall.
Tape 2 Side A: Americans dug new wells with better equipment. Oil site had already been located by D'Arcy Exploration. They dug around 100 wells. Details re numbers of staff. Attitude of people of surrounding area. 300,000 tons of oil left Eakring. Explains process of getting oil out with nodding donkeys etc. Recalls fatal accident, death of Herman Douthit. Details of precarious process he was involved in when he fell. Everything was shut down that day. Effect of death on rest of workers. Explains dangers of job. Recalls other Americans, transport workers, their positive attitude to work. When job was finished they went as quietly as they came. Recalls Gene Rosser who was in charge, Gordon Sams, tool pusher, Alan Rutherford, a New Zealander. Details re roughnecks, roustabouts. Americans lived in Kelham Priory. One American grew crops. Details re their social life. Attitude of local people to Americans. Recalls rumour re John Wayne. Describes own work routine, testing of samples of oil for water content. Mentions German aircraft flying overhead. Recalls poor lighting in Dukes Wood. Drilling went on 24 hours a day. Reference to forthcoming play about the American drillers. Mentions later part of career in seismic work, drilling. [First meeting in 30 years of Denis Sheffield with RON KING (who joined industry in 1949), and HARRY HUGHES (1956). Also present, KEVIN TOPHAM (1953), see separate Topham recording.] DS: Americans left quietly. Recalls later seismic, drilling work. RK explains seismic work processes, use of explosives, measurements, profiling sub-surface. HH describes seismic work in different parts of UK. Reference to W.N. Jones, designer of Jones Geophone.
Tape 2 Side B: RON KING born 1929 in Eddingly, went to school in Mansfield. Spent time on farms, went into seismic work. Studied at Nottingham Tech. 20 years with BP, 20 years with Conoco, 12 years as consultant. Did shift work at Easington. Worked at Kirklington Hall on core analysis etc. Then went to Sunbury on Thames. Recalls working on Sea Quest. Worked as Assistant Civil Engineer with Frank Skelton, Chief Petroleum Engineer. HARRY HUGHES born 1934, went to grammar school in Nottingham, did 2 years in air force. Joined BP as Technical Assistant at Kirklington Hall measuring seismic background work using reflection, refraction methods. Recalls problems with noise of milking machines. DENIS SHEFFIELD: details re ongoing oil production at Eakring, explosion processes used to improve production, secondary recovery involving Pluto pumps. Explains roles of rigman, pumpman. RK: harrowing aspects of mud engineering. Problems with water pressure, use of dense mud, Bentonite. HH: Changes in offshore work. DS: hazards in work, safety devices, e.g. dead man's line. RK: Recalls work with valves, compares with today. Recalls working in Eakring research laboratories in 1950s, e.g. analysing soil samples for oil. Reference to Dr Gaskill, Cliff Doyne, Frank Skelton and others. HH worked for Dr O'Brien in signal to noise work and other survey work around the country. Explains. Eakring a training ground for BP. Reference to Simon Laird. Memories of various work experiences, colleagues in early days. E.g., HH recalls setting fire to oil underground by spontaneous combustion. DS recalls drilling 7000 feet wells at Thormby etc. Depths of Eakring wells. Prospects now of oil at Eakring etc.
Tape 3 Side A: HARRY HUGHES: Key points of career leading to seismic work in Africa. Joined Schlumberger. Details of posts including Oman working on well logging, Shell contract etc. Further details of employers in UK and in many other parts of the world as geophysicist, looking for gold etc. Worked out of Great Yarmouth. Details re discomfort of 600 ton survey vessel. Mentions BP sale of Kirklington Hall, move of research centre to Sunbury on Thames. Details re further seismic work mapping oil prospects in UK. Significance of Eakring oilfields. Finance for work in Eakring came from Middle Eastern oil profits. RON KING: Germans bombed Eddingly. Details. Lot of people knew about Eakring oilfield. DENIS SHEFFIELD: Details re porous sandstone underground liquid natural gas storage plans for Cotswolds, Buckinghamshire, Northhants, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, rendered obsolete by North Sea gas. RK: Didn't know about Eakring oil. Details re Eddingly bombing etc. RK with BP till 1970. Details of other work including PVT (pressure/volume/temperature), mud engineering. Summarises various jobs. Supervised technical training at Mablethorpe for people going to Aberdeen. Later became consultant, worked on operating training manuals, training programmes etc. Worked on big projects including Britannia, Nelson. Recalls American approach in industry, earlier safety attitudes. Mentions modern North Sea standards, recognised in other countries. Recalls working on other UK oilfields for Conoco. HH: recollection of working with Americans, their go-ahead attitude. RK compares Americans and UK companies, conditions, expectations, pay. HH: BP was not good at managing people, but never made people redundant. Compares with today, contract system. Discussion re unions, works committees. No need for unions.
Tape 3 Side B: DENIS SHEFFIELD: Wartime American involvement different from recent American involvement. Explains. Details re dates, locations of own drilling work in UK. RON KING: Comments on choice of UK drilling locations. DS: Explains drilling procedures. Finished working in drilling industry 1967. Dukes Wood finished late 1960s. Independent company came back to Dukes Wood in 1990s. [General talk for several minutes.] HARRY HUGHES: Recalls bird dogs, supervisors watching contractors to make sure they did job they were paid to do. Contractors were under pressure to finish job, make profit, might cut corners. Mentions tool pushers, truck pushers, other terms, hierarchies. HH: Oil men don't retire, just die off. RK: Recalls Conoco's invention of use of vibrators instead of dynamite for seismic work. Advantages of this method. [General discussion re seismic methods etc.] KEVIN TOPHAM: Recalls various BP researchers including Sir Frank Whittle, Frank Gill, Dr Birks of Bletchley Park and other characters. Recollection of geologists, geophysicists who would disappear for months on exploration hikes in the desert etc. Description of culture of early days in oil industry in other countries.
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