On board photos "Mobil Lube"

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On board photos "Mobil Lube" - Part 1

All Photos Copyright Paul Sullivan

Winter storm, east coast USA, late January 1978.

Taken in January 1978 while north bound on the US east coast to Boston, Mass.

Got caught in the storm well known in New England as the "Blizzard of 78".

Like above.

Taking on fuel at Gibraltar 1977. Left to Right, Cowboy(machinist), John Cash (PM), C.E. Dave Nelson,

and engine cadet gathered around the port deep tank on the Mobil Lube.

My 12-4 watch partners, 1978, Mobil Lube. Left to Right, AB's Jake Annaboli, Charlie Liebig, and OS "Tiny".

The Lube was my 1st ship as second mate from 1977 to 78. This picture was taken after departing Boston.

We ran into heavy weather northbound from the '78 storm in the Gulf stream, and arrived in Boston when things

had calmed down and streets were opened to traffic. I took the picture after departure from Boston during the

south bound tank cleaning.

C/M Frank Miller (l) and pumpman Ike Denton. Tanker Mobil Lube docked in Providence RI, April 1978.

Mobil Lube 1978. Old timey Houston pilot taking us up the ship channel for loading.

The Sperry Mark 14 gyro compass located in the "gyro room on the bridge of the Mobil Lube. The first Mk 14

came out in 1944 and all of Mobil's tankers made in the 1950's and early 1960's were fitted with them.

Compared to today's gyros (or even those built in the 1980's) they were HUGE and had their own room on the

bridge to house not only the gyro, but all it's control panels (replete with vacuum tubes), spares, cleaning equipment,

and a/c generator for running the compass rotor. On the inside they were very cool and complicated looking

(in a "steam punk" sort of way) and had many moving parts. Yet they were incredibly well made extremely dependable

if given even a bit of maintenance.

After the film "Star Wars" came out in 1977 we started calling the Mark 14 "R2D2". The second mate was the

navigation officer and as soon as you were promoted to that position you were expected to be an expert in the

gyros operation and upkeep. This usually required allot of bullshitting until you could figure it out and hoping it didn't

crap out at sea, especially in bad weather!

The innards of the Sperry Mark 14.

The innards of the Sperry Mark 14.

All Photos Copyright Paul Sullivan