M/V American
with
Piggy-back shallow-water barge

Delta Exploration Incorporated
Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Rigging the barge - 1969/70

Vicksberg, Mississippi & Mombasa, Kenya

The M/V American docked on the Mississippi & Yazoo river at Vicksberg, Mississipi.
( 32° 20′ 10″ N, 90° 52′ 31″ W)

This is where we rigged the Delta piggy-back shallow-water barge

Work progressing on the back deck of the M/V American.
Note the Monarch (aluminium-hulled) work boat being prepared on the right.

Rigging the 50-ton shallow water barge.

The barge was propelled by a steerable water jet system,
so there was no propeller to damage when working in very shallow water.

Note the fibreglass instrument room, the navigation-system radar antenna on it's roof, and
the cable drum for storing the thin (eel) oil-filled shallow-water hydrophone cable.

We tested the Motorola RPS system by setting up one of the radar transponders
in the Vicksburg National Military Park - in line of site of the barge.

Loading the barge onto the back of the M/V American (the mother ship)

Loading the barge - view from the back deck of the mother ship.

A very powerful hydraulic winch and heavy-duty cable were required to pull the 50-ton
barge on to the back of the mother ship.

The barge almost fully loaded. A sigh of relief ... the loading system worked.

Sailing with the barge piggy-backed on the M/V American down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
This is 234 miles as the crow flies. This is where we left her as she set sail for Mombasa, Kenya.

>--------------------------------------------<

MOMBASA, KENYA

Mombasa Pilot guiding the M/V American into port.

Guard

Supplies of soft drinks delivered on-board

Pontoon rented to allow streamer cable kerosine filling, assembly & repair + temporary storage for delivered items

At rear, empty streamer cable section ready to be filled. The sections were air-freighted to Kenya
in the large cardboard boxes shown on the pontoon.

The brown cable is a floating lead-in cable.

Section by section the 1 Km long cable is filled, joined (electrically-connected & sealed) to the previous section
and wound onto the cable drum on the barge.

The pontoon had to be guarded at night.

Building shooting boat Long John Too

(Photos - Robert J. Horne)