This Day in History (1975): Seaman courses underway at Ras Tanura

From the April 16, 1975, edition of The Arabian Sun

The first comprehensive course in seamanship ever offered by Aramco is being given to a group of young Saudis at handsome new classrooms at the Ras Tanura West Pier.

Called Basic Seamanship, the 20-week course is a cooperative venture of the Marine Department and the Training Department. The course will cover the fundamentals of navigation, boat handling, survival at sea, damage control, corrosion control, line handling and maintenance. Each of these subjects will be discussed in detail in the morning classroom sessions, then put into practice in the afternoon sessions onboard a training vessel.

“We’re bringing in a special boat for this purpose,” says on-the-job training supervisor Captain R. D. Paul, speaking about the 65—foot launch Zahrani. The launch came to Aramco from the Tapline terminal in Sidon, Lebanon, two years ago and is now being refitted in Bahrain with the latest navigational and safety equipment.

The course began March 29 with survival at sea (the correct use of life vests, rafts, etc.), which will continue about two more weeks. Then the students will learn about damage control (ways to temporarily repair a disabling injury to the boat and so enable it to make it back to port); line handling, corrosion control, maintenance, boat handling and navigation. They will also attend a special ITC English class where they will learn not just the usual English and vocabulary, but also nautical terms such as bulkhead, ground tackle, and clove hitch.

Caption for top photo: Sometime next month, the 65-foot launch "Zahrani" will return to Ras Tanura from Bahrain, where it is now being modified to serve as Aramco's first training vessel. Among the modifications to the launch, which was built in Holland, are two new 450 hp engines, the latest navigational and safety equipment, and an enlarged cabin area.

Also on this date

2016 — Ecuador's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years kills 676 and injures 6,274

2003 — Michael Jordan plays his final game with the National Basketball Association

2003 — The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union

1972 — As part of the Apollo program Apollo 16 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida

1963 — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting against segregation

1947 — Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union

1942 — King George VI of the U.K. awards the George Cross to the people of Malta in appreciation of their heroism

1912 — Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel

1853 — The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane

1582 — Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina