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Online
ODDITIES
Things that don't
yet fit anywhere else
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Western Geophysical Bahrain '66
(One Eared Elephant Story, BOAC Hotel Bahrain)

View of Western Geo
Redcreek shooting boat from recording boat
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Sometime back I posted a photo of the
Western Geo "Red Creek" shooting boat on the "Western
Geophysical Friends" group on FaceBook. I
received the following comments which began the great Jim
Denholm "One Eared Elephant" conversation.
Robert Morée I was PM in Bahrain when the Red
Creek ran aground and filled up with water because the
manhole cover of one of the tanks was not bolted down,
resulting in the hold flooding. Tony Bird, made a
song:" Hang down your head dear Leo (Dunn), hang down
your head and cry, the Red Creek is high and dry!"
Jesse Lerma Sad.. I was on
the recording boat. Don't remember her name. Many
stories to tell about the WesternGeo crew while in
Bahrain, including when we were all banned from the
Bahrain BOAC hotel because of an Aussie shooter that
when drunk had to show what a one eared elephant
looked like to all in the BOAC bar.
Robert Morée Could have been
Terry Sadler!
Bill Hodgson Good old Speedbird
- best watering hole! A gun mechanic phoned home from
there and it cost him a month's pay.
Chris Terrey Recording boat was the Jackson Creek,
remember Roger Sharpley staggering around on her upper
deck when I was on the Red Creek. Got on the radio to
Ken Fee - what's wrong with Sharpley? . From Fee - Got
a full house. - what's that? I ask. Answer , Clap ,
Crabs & Piles all at the same time !
Julian Russell It was Jim Denholm who got us
banned with one eared elephant trick. Incidentally
both Jim and Terry Sadler are both dead.
Jesse Lerma Were
you on either ship when Jim got us thrown out? I
remember when we went to sea afterwards, as payback we
locked Jim in the head and shoved several aerosol cans
of deodorant or maybe it was bug spray down a vent
that led to the head. We kept him in there for 15
minutes or so ignoring his cries for mercy. It was
cruel but he deserved it. Jim also was very proud that
he had once been in some low budget WW2 movie as an
extra where he played a German soldier and loved to
show a picture of himself in a German uniform.
MC Martello That movie might have starred Robert
Mitchum, and that Mitchum was a 1 take actor, leave
the bar, cross over to the lot, with one or two
'birds', do it in one take and return to the bar. And
as for the 1 eared elephant, he pulled that in Brazil,
turned his back while drinking on the balcony of a
'respected' hotel, facing a smoked glass wall,
prepared himself, not knowing that the elite of
Fortaleza, Brazil, were dining on the other side on
saw his pride and joy! mid-70's that! All this I heard
from the horse's mouth! rip Jim!
MC Martello Just passed this, by email, to his old
mate Derek Hough, who refuses to join FB!
Julian Russell Hi Jesse, I was on the Western Beacon but
I knew Jim pretty well. I remember his pride in his
acting 'career'. He also had a fiddle going where he
would fly to and from the UK for a break using some
cheap military concession until he was caught ! When
he did the one eared elephant trick, Bud Grant was
also visiting the crew from Houston.
Jesse Lerma Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
was not at the BOAC hotel the night that Jim did his
act. I only heard about it the next day when we were
told our crew was now persona non grata. I was also
told that he destroyed the bathroom at the bar that
same night, pulling the wash basin from the
wall. Jim was also not the brightest bulb in the
box. I had a portable phonograph player in the Shoran
shack that I would play jazz records on. You turned it
on by first moving the tone arm all the way to the
center. When Jim would come by to listen to one of my
records, I would appear to flip an imaginary switch on
the side of the player while moving the tone arm.
After the record finished the player would
automatically turn off. Jim would then try to restart
the player by looking for that imaginary switch. He
never caught on.
Roy Peck Jim Denholm. A big personality. A
staunch friend.
Will Rountree I was wit GSI in Saudi then! 1964-1968
working on the first digital crew shooting reflection
Recorded on both analog and digital.
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Klaus
Keilich, Bob Molloy, Mike Bergstrom -
Karmoy station, Norway.
I seem
to think I actually took this one, or was
there at the time. (True, it appears)
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Looks
like the middle East to me, maybe
Iran. A
Geoff Metcalfe photo, but Geoff
can't recall where.
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Another
station, and that tower
definitely has a lean on.
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View from
a station, I imagine, possibly Spain or
the Middle East, but where?
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Confirmed
as Libreville.
Lighthouse
station

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Confirmed
as Dennis Cooper's Deira station,
Dubai.
Jacques
Gruring by the car, about to take
over the site
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I'd say
somewhere in French West Africa. Anyone
remember where?
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I know
the face, and I know the station is in
New
Zealand,
but who and where? Ian Cartner thinks he
is a
camp
helper; I don't.
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I believe
this is the same station, maybe a
different
person.
Ian Cartner, possibly?
Apparently not. Ian thinks it might
be Jerry Naylor
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Almost
certainly Australia, but who and where?
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Was this
a prospective station site off
Australia? Apparently not! Turning point
off
SW
Australia for Sydney-Hobart yacht
race
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No ideas
at all about this one.
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Australia
again. 8/10 for the shower. But which
station.
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You'd
really need to be suffering to consider
this! Next to the hotel in Dubai -
obviously in the days before it became
"Millionaire's Row"
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That
glimpse of a tent looks too flash for ONI,
so maybe it was just a beach resort
somewhere?
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A little
nostalgia for field personnel
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Remember filing these?
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jpl2225@deltatango.net
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