Bristow Photos

[Dave Ed]

Natuna

Indonesia, Natuna




Conoco had a long operating history in Indonesia where the company was the operator of the Block B, Tobong and Northwest Natuna Sea Block II production sharing contracts.

Natuna: Find and enjoy the exotic virginal beauty of Natuna and surrounding Islands. The blend of land, water and mountains has enhanced the Island of tremendous richness. This is a place of paradise for people who believe vacations should be pure escape, pleasure and tranquility. The rhythms of tides, travels of the sun and stars, the waxing and waning of the moon should become memorable spaces of warmth and ease.
So, yet another Bristow posting to paradise! de

The following was provided by Dick Jones:-

Natuna Besar Base 1970.
Natuna started off with two Wessex and later an S6IN was added in 1971.
Initial crew.
Pilots:- Mike Ratcliffe (C.P.), Huw Smith and Dave Cramp.
Engineers:- Dick Jones (C.E.), Horst Voight, Alec Smart, Pete Robson,
Geoff Chandler and lan Black.

New Year's Eve 1970/71.
At this time the camp was being constructed by CONOCO and we lived on a small oceanographer vessel on the river at the Kampong Penagi . The camp site was being guarded by the Indonesian Airforce at night. Whilst our crew was celebrating New Year's eve on the boat, a local lady ran amok on the campsite and chased off the armed guards and set about wrecking our hangar. She threw shovels and picks down the exhaust pipes of both Wessex, raided our store and threw many of our spares about the place and our spare radar sets were thrown into a cement mixer. She then stripped off and placed a pitot head cover in an appropriate place, threw a plastic bag over her head and climbed halfway up the 200 ft HF antenna where she was found the next morning. There was minimal damage to the helicopters but our spares were in a bit of a state.
The poor lady was arrested by the locals and tied up and locked in a nearby hut but she escaped twice in the next two weeks and eventually they could not contain her and she was sedated and flown by Wessex to a village at a neighbouring group of islands. Peace returned to paradise.
We renamed the island Natuna Beserk.

Photo: Wessex at Natuna Besar on the airfield with Mount Ranai in the background. The fuel drums were shipped in from Singapore and the locals swam them in from the barge which lay about a mile offshore. Not all of the drums made it to the airfield, and the local hillsides were aglow with kerosene lamps at night.