In the fall of 1992, I was offered a position on Texaco's Audit Team. There were two Audit Teams in all, each team consisting of a Capt and a Chief Engineer. The assignment required teams to ride and complete operational reports on various ships in the fleet, including internationally-flagged vessels. Prior to heading out for the first assignment, we attended a week-long environmental auditing course in Cambridge, MA.
I was lucky enough to be partnered with Mike McCarthy who had previous Audit Team experience. Our first assignment was the Star Louisiana which we joined in Port Suez at the southern boundary of the Suez Canal. The trip over was interesting, not being used to long international flights. The first hop was from Newark, NJ to London Heathrow. Since there was a long layover until my next flight, I was given a free hotel room nearby. The next morning, I met up with Mike at Heathrow and we flew to Cairo, landing at night. We were met and escorted to a fancy downtown hotel where I was able to buy a few postcards to send home. There was no time to explore the city since we departed for Port Suez by car service first thing the next morning. It was about a three hours drive much of it through desert areas which were strewn with white plastic shopping bags along the roadside. This was before these types of shopping bags were being widely used in America. I now see that the ecologic mess witnessed along the desolate Egyptian roads as a foreshadowing as to why plastic bags are finally being phased out here in the US.
The most important thing I learned during the trip to join the Louisiana was to keep a bunch of $1 bills available. In both Cairo and Port Suez, Mike and I were bombarded by street urchins looking for handouts. Mike had singles but I had none and wound up parting with a $20 just to get them to leave me alone.
We joined the Louisiana by launch as she cleared the canal. Our first port was to be Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. The officers on board were Italian; the ratings were Filipino. I quickly learned that Filipino cooks can make very good Italian food, especially Focaccia bread. I witnessed a humorous occurrence while approaching Yanbu. A Saudi Arabian harbor pilot and his apprentice had just boarded. When the pilots arrived on the bridge, the captain asked if they would like coffee. The pilot requested cappuccino. There was a cappuccino maker on the bridge so the pilot got his wish. He then proceeded to tell his apprentice that Italians make lousy cappuccino and refused to drink his. Clearly he was just trying to be a hard ass. I mean, who in their right minds tells Italians they can't make good cappuccino.
Nobody was allowed ashore in Yanbu which was just as well. There didn't appear to be much around. After departing, we continued southbound in the Red Sea. One of the items we checked for in our audit was passage planning. I had a good look at the charts and noticed an area circled and marked "fishing grounds" off the coast of Oman. I teasingly asked the captain if this was part of the passage plan. Several days later, I was to find out that indeed it was part of the plan. I awoke early one morning to the sensation that the ship was stopped. I thought perhaps there were engine problems. I went up to the bridge and found nobody there which was very strange. I went out on the bridge wing and heard noise on the fantail. Looking down, I noticed a dozen or so crew members fishing. Sure enough, we had arrived at the fishing grounds marked on the navigation chart. I went down to join the action and was handed a fishing line. The crew were hauling in large fish two at a time. I caught my share as well. Apparently, several trips prior, the ship had developed engine problems in this very spot and had to stop. While repairs were being made, the some of the crew started fishing and hit the jackpot. Since that trip, the ship stopped to fish in the same spot every time it was on that route. Enough fish were caught that they were able to cancel a good portion of their grocery order in the next port.
Mike and I completed our audit and disembarked by launch off of Fujairah. We took a car service to Dubai where we spent a couple of days before flying back to Port Arthur via Bahrain, Amsterdam and Houston.
After we had given our audit report to the powers that be, I was told that I was needed back in the fleet for one rotation to fill in on the Massachusetts, which I did.
My next audit assignment was on the Star Baltic along with Butch Callaway as the Engine Auditor. Similar to the Louisiana, the Baltic was manned by Italian officers and Filipino ratings. As happenstance would have it, the second mate on the Baltic was the same guy that had been on the Louisiana. We joined the Baltic in San Juan and rode the ship to Guayanilla and then on to Curacao where we disembarked. In my post-Texaco years while carrying out a ship inspection in Texas City, I noticed the Baltic at a nearby dock and was able to go aboard and see a few friends I had made during the audit.
The next audit assignment almost turned disastrous right from the get-go. I first flew to Boston where I met up with Mike McCarthy. From there we took a small plane to Quebec City. We were the only two passengers yet somehow they managed to misplace my luggage which I had carried with me from the first flight. We joined the Star Ohio in St. Romuald, just across the river from Quebec City. I put the ship's agent on the lookout for my luggage since the ship was due to sail the next day. It looked like I was going to have to spend the month aboard wearing borrowed boiler suits. Luckily my luggage was found and brought out to the ship by a launch after we had sailed from the dock.
The Star Ohio was a new VLCC manned by Italian officers and Filipino ratings. Our quarters were top notch. Our load port was to be Arzew, Algeria, where there had been a recent terrorist attack on a ship loading there. After docking, we raised up the gangway and kept it raised the whole time we were alongside, much to the displeasure of the port officials. During the night, Mike and I split security watches on the navigation bridge to help ensure nobody snuck onboard. We were glad when we sailed. It was a two week voyage back to St. Romuald where we disembarked. This was the last foreign flag ship we were to audit. The next few were American flag ships.
My next audit was a solo job. It was on the integrated tug barge unit Victory - Texas. The voyage was from Baytown, TX to Port Everglades, FL. I shared a stateroom with the Chief Mate. I had never sailed on a tug barge unit before and was pleasantly surprised how well she rode. The weather being good helped.
The next two audits were on west coast on the Star Rhode Island and Star Massachusetts, two of my former ships. It was good to see some familiar faces.
Upon completion of the audit, it was announced that Texaco Marine was disbanding its marine operations, turning them over to Northern Marine Management. The remaining ships in the US Fleet, Star Georgia and Star Rhode Island were sold to Keystone Shipping. Star Massachusetts was sold for scrap.
My last official work day with Texaco was June 30, 1995.
