Oddities

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.

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.

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.