| Description | Tape 1 Side A: CLIVE BROOKES born 21 October 1941 Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. 4th of 6 children. Details re siblings. Paternal family: knew grandmother. Grandfather a chain-maker from Black Country. Details re original welding process. Father born in mother's change of life. Maternal family: grandfather, Tom Arnold, in First World War, worked in colliery. Details. Reference to grandmother, Sarah. Father, Arthur Brookes, coalminer, died early. Recalls sudden death of mother, Annie. Details re childhood home in Mansfield. No doors locked then. Compares with now. Now has closed-circuit television guarding home. Recalls father's work routines, dangers in mine. Describes him, his speech, personality. He was a professional boxer. Details. He liked a drink or two. Explains close feelings for him, his attitude to work, helping others. Describes mother, her attitude. Close family. Recalls discipline in childhood, place of religion, current beliefs, mixed marriages in family. Father supported union, Labour voter. Own feelings about unions, their impact on car industry. Went to secondary modern school, didn't like it. Explains. Avoided school, worked on farm instead. Teachers didn't bother. Younger brother in Foreign Office. Ambitions when a boy to be big and strong, work hard. Reference to Longfellow. Enjoyed boxing, sports as boy. Difficulties being in large family. Explains interest in art, music, literature, poetry. Now known for poetry writing. Father's attitude to sons going down mines. Left school at 15, worked in shoe factory, didn't like it. Explains. Joined engineering factory, Metalbox Company. Details. Didn't like formal learning. Not a reader when young. Recalls social life in 1950s. Knew about Eakring oilfields. Recalls other jobs, driving machinery etc. Married twice. Details.
Tape 1 Side B: Married 30 years. Details re children from both marriages, names. Details re wife. Worked for Mansfield Plant Hire driving JCBs etc. Background to joining oil industry. Applied in Aberdeen to join Sea Quest as roustabout 1974. Recalls first hazardous journey offshore. First impression of Sea Quest, noises, food, colleagues. Details re work as roustabout. Recalls deck foreman. Discipline tight on board, kept busy doing something. Safety situation was evolving, still primitive. Oil industry learned by mistakes. Recalls lucky escapes on Sea Quest. Recalls close call, fuel pipe bursting when refuelling helicopter, explosion, 1975. Covered with aviation fuel. New procedures etc introduced as result. Reference to newspaper report. Recalls time crane nearly pulled over side. Trained as crane operator. Reference to three Duncan brothers. Details re Manitowac, NCK crawler cranes, not designed for offshore. Crane operators lost at that time. Explains shockloads. Compares cranes then with modern ones. Recalls later risky work, radio silence in case of accidents. Recalls risky emergency job in bad weather when working on Uncle John diving barge. Explains dangers of work on supply boats, eg freak waves. Wrote poems about Sea Quest, published in oil magazines. Origins of interest in reading, writing offshore. Details re first poems written. Reads poem re price of oil. Describes atmosphere on oil rig. Wrote poems about roughnecks, characters at sea, Forties inauguration when met Queen. Published in Roustabout and other oil-related magazines. Recalls roustabouts, their reasons for being offshore, their reactions. Own attitude to working offshore, need to close mind to home. No telephones offshore then. Feelings about situation now. Wife's situation, separate life.
Tape 2 Side A: Wife's situation (cont'd). Reads poem called 'Roughnecks' summing up their lives, earnings, spending big money. Recalls big-spending lives led by divers. Drink a problem for some offshore workers. Impact on families, marriages. Reads poem called 'Progress'. Recalls old-timers in North Sea. Describes daily routine as offshore crane driver, unloading, backloading boats. Sometimes in cab 12 hours, food brought up. Work weather-dependent. Details re cranes on Sea Quest, shift patterns. Mentions earnings. Recalls BP's safety consciousness. Details re crane cab equipment, machinery. Recalls OIM (Offshore Installation Manager) Billy Howe. As crane operator responsible to drilling floor. Explains. Recalls entertainment offshore, own weight training, keeping fit. Reference to later hip replacement. Stayed on Sea Quest 1974-6. Reads another Sea Quest poem, 'Returning'. Recalls delays encountered at Sunburgh, Shetland, because of weather, effect of this. Reference to Sunburgh Hotel. Reads poems 'To My Dear Wife Patricia', 'Spring-cleaning Aboard the Sea Quest'. Recalls being kept busy offshore painting. Reads letter to wife from Sea Quest when under tow. Reads poem called 'Characters at Sea'. Atmosphere was good on Sea Quest. Explains. Moved to Kings North Marine 1976, worked offshore from Aberdeen on Kings North Dundee, Kings North UK. More money than Sea Quest but less safe, no deck foremen, crane operator in charge of roustabouts. Details. Transferred to diving ship Regis, then Uncle John diving/firefighting barge. Reference to Phillips. Details re Uncle John, first of its kind with bow-thrusters, double-bank computers. First hyperbaric welding on seabed. Explains procedures. Mentions divers' wages, star-status, lifestyle. Big time gambling on diving barges. Recalls American who lost everything. Mentions Scottish £20 notes, 'rats'.
Tape 2 Side B: Explains habitat used by divers on seafloor. Recalls French, British hyperbaric welders, a dangerous situation. Many divers lost in early days of North Sea. Details. Success of North Sea due to different approaches of Americans, British. Explains. British attitudes to Americans. Own feeling about them. Crane operators only as good as last lift. Have to be good for safety reasons, and to keep job. Involved with Comex Diving. Mentions use of English language. Recalls work on Statfjord Field, security, different attitudes there. Comments on Dutch, Scottish workers. Benefit of dockyards expertise to North Sea. Unions were taboo offshore. Explains attitude of Americans, employers. Mentions rush to get oil. Own attitude to unions, having them offshore. Was in Seamen's Union. Explains. Relationship between employers, unions. Moved to diving barges/ships around1977. Explains difference from drilling rigs, eg better food. Recalls work routine on barge, example of jobs. Divers' routines using moon-pool etc. Uncle John barge had first remote-controlled cameras for use on seabed. Details re saturation chambers, seabed working habitats. Reads writings/poems called 'Ode to the Uncle John Divers', 'Worlds Apart', 'Brent at Night', 'On Stream'. Mentions numbers of flares in North Sea at time. Recalls secrecy surrounding oil discoveries, excitement among crew. Recalls discovery of oil in BP Andrew Field, drilling appraisal wells. Met Queen when she inaugurated Forties Field 1975. Impression of her. Reference to Prince Andrew, Jim Callaghan, Harold Wilson. Poem called 'Forties Inauguration'. All poems factual. Feelings about Royal Family. Reads lines called 'Before the Disaster' written 1980. Reference to Alexander Kielland disaster. Recalls early safety attitudes, a helicopter disaster in Statfjord Field.
Tape 3 Side A: Recalls effect of fog at sea. Reads 'Fog Approaching'. Recalls enjoyment of being offshore, power of sea. Spent 6 years on Uncle John barge. Describes its equipment including fire-fighting water canons, cranes, new technology. Uncle John could hold position in bad weather. Details. Accommodation, food good. Recalls favourite dishes. Reads poem called 'The Tempting of the Gourmet'. Recalls humour offshore, friendliness of people there. Explains own attitude to life. Always prayed thanks at end of trips offshore. Recalls fear of harming people on job. Danger of work on supply boats. Recalls change of boiler suits from blue to orange - big improvement. Compares routines on drilling rigs, diving barges. Details re work done by sailors etc. Poem called 'Learning to Splice' about splicing wire rope. Mentions own qualifications. Explains slings used in crane work, techniques. Recalls procedures lifting pipes. JCBs used on seabed. Explains. Further details re cranage techniques, processes, safe working loads. Mentions use of computers to control cranes. Problems working close to platforms with currents between etc Recalls near misses. Recalls a dangerous operation involving a 50-ton seabed habitat. Risks involved. Attitude to doing dangerous jobs. Recalls meeting other crane drivers, eg, Willie Duncan - taught by him. Details re the three Duncan brothers. Crane operators fish in big way. Had accident 1982 when aged 41, slipped in mudroom, damaged back. End of North Sea career. Feelings about situation. Has interests, land. Interested in antiques, poetry. Gives recitals of poetry on all aspects of life. Details re current situation. Poem called 'Something Different'.
Tape 3 Side B: Blank
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