"We've come such a long, long way since and a lot of the credit has to go to the for the recommendations that they made, and obviously to the governments that acted on them." Ruelokke's company won the contract to do the diving survey of the Ocean Ranger for the inquiry. Ruelokke's company lost five employees on the Ocean Ranger.ĭuration 2:13 A brutal winter storm closes in on Newfoundland's Grand Banks, threatening oil rigs and ships in the area.Īt the time the Ocean Ranger sank, there was no safety or basic survival training, said Ruelokke. "In the words of the people that were responsible for the rig.… This rig can't sink, and that was the mindset," he said. The feeling at the time was that the Ocean Ranger was unsinkable, said Ruelokke. Nobody went into the lifeboat, nobody started it." You went out and stood by your lifeboat station and basically had a cigarette and yarned with the rest of the crew. "The lifeboat drill was something that we did every Sunday after lunch. "I spent many, many, many days on the Ocean Ranger," he said. One of his contracts was on the Ocean Ranger.Īt that time, safety on offshore oil rigs wasn't given much thought, said Ruelokke. Safety improvementsįrom the tragedy of the Ocean Ranger, improved safety culture and training has emerged, says Max Ruelokke, a diver and partial owner of Hydro Space Marine Services in 1982. Most families, she says, didn't get to say goodbye. She's grateful, still, that her father's remains were among the 22 recovered from the sinking. "Mom did her best and educated the three of us and did everything she could for us." Putt's mother never totally recovered from losing her husband, she said. It was her way of processing," said Blevins. "For years … well into the late '80s, early '90s, she wrote to him … her observations. pays respects to lives lostĪfter his mother died in April, at 67, the family discovered journals she had kept, evidence of how profoundly losing their father had affected her. That was the reason he was out there," Putt said. "He wanted to get some extra money and to hopefully take us to Toronto to see his sister that summer. Losing her father on the Ocean Ranger when she was 10 years old would also have a huge impact on how Tina Putt's life unfolded.ĭouglas Putt, 33, had accepted a two-week stint on the oil rig after he got laid off from his regular welding job. "That really set the tone for my life, right there," he said. All of Blevins' toys and clothes were in boxes, packed and ready for the move to another town.īut within days, it was confirmed that his father would not be coming home ever again. Thomas and Martine had just purchased a new house the week before. Because he often missed holidays, Blevins said, his mom tried to make up for it by celebrating when he returned. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, Blevins remembers his mom getting the children to sit at the kitchen table and make valentines for their father when he came home. Galliehue Blevins is one of dozens of people who lost loved ones on the Ocean Ranger 40 years ago. We went fishing.… We played baseball in the yard, we played football in the yard, and basketball," said Blevins. When he was home from the rig we always did stuff together. His sister Rachel was five and Amanda three when their father died. No one had told me but I could pick up tones."īlevins, 47, is the eldest child, the only son of Thomas and Martine Blevins. "I kept hearing people talking about searching, looking for survivors. In the Blevins' home in Plainfield, Conn., Galliehue remembers a lot of friends and relatives started coming the next morning. It concluded that many of the men might have survived had they been properly trained and supplied with adequate survival gear.Īt the time, the company described the Ocean Ranger as the largest semi-submersible oil rig in the world. (Submitted by Galliehue Blevins)Ī 2½-year inquiry into the disaster later blamed the rig's American owner, the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company. He died on the Ocean Ranger, leaving behind three children. Thomas Blevins, centre, is pictured here in a family photo.
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