The first night of leisure time I had in Aruba was a disappointment compared to what I imagined the exotic locale should offer. They cancelled the planned party at the club, and I was determined to find where things were happening on the social scene. Unfortunately everything was very subdued on that particular evening. SHIPS TRAVELED I sailed to Aruba on the Esso Bolivar once and the S.S. Chattanooga a couple of times. Savanna, Georgia was the home town of the Captain of the Chattanooga. He became a very good friend of my wife and me. His third mate, Calidino, from Passaic, New Jersey, was also a good buddy. Calidino later sailed to the Far East, bringing us an exquisite Oriental vase when he returned. JOB ASSIGNMENT I was hired as an instrument mechanic specifically for the study they were making on the temperature difference between a bare thermocouple and a shielded (or protected) thermocouple in the roof and wall tubes of the cracking plant furnaces. The shielding was actually a special stainless steel tubing to protect a thermocouple on the surface of a furnace tube from the high operating temperatures. The thermocouples used were made of two lengths of 12 gauge wire of metal alloys each of the two wires made to different specifications. For example the thermocouple used for temperatures up to 1400 degrees Fahrenheit was made with one iron wire and one Constantan. Different alloys of wire were used for different applications. The heat sensing end of the two temperature sensing wires were carefully twisted together using a special jig to make a solid mechanical contact. As the temperature increased at the temperature sensing end of the thermocouple, a small current was generated in proportion to the amount of heat applied. This small current was measured and interpreted by means of tables to give the temperature readings on the surface of the furnace tubes. The inside diameter of a furnace tube might measure six inches. In the case of the tube metal thermocouple installation the two heat sensing wires of the thermocouple were not twisted together, but each individual wire was inserted into the furnace tube in 1/16" diameter holes that were 1/16" deep. The holes were drilled an eighth inch apart in the wall of the tube. The wires were then "peened" in place so they became a part of the tube. A metal punch used to hammer closed the metal of the furnace tube tightly around the wires of the thermocouple to become the heat sensing end of the thermocouple. Next, the 1" shielding tubing 80 formed to specifications in the machine shop was placed over the wire and arc welded in place on the furnace tube. Depending on its location, the shielding tubing and the two insulated thermocouple wires extended through the wall or roof of the furnace. A junction box was screwed on the shielding tube; and a ceramic "thermocouple head" was mounted. Connecting wires ("leads") would be fastened to the terminal. It was at this end that the temperature readings of the furnace tube surfaces were taken. This method of shielding effectively protected the thermocouple wire from direct heat in the furnace. The bare, unprotected, thermocouples were positioned to take the surface temperature of the furnace tube, normally lasting 48 hours. It was found that the protected thermocouples would last several months. A temperature difference between the readings on the shielded couples and the exposed couples of about 35 degrees was recorded. The operators could interpret that temperature readings of shielded thermocouples as being 35 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the actual surface temperature of the tube. We experimented with various types of shielding, 1" stainless grade of shielding welded to the tube proving superior. WORKING CONDITIONS Not everyone was enthusiastic about working conditions in Aruba. A fellow from Foxboro, by the name of Autin, lasted only 11 days. He was a draftsman who had gone to another company from Foxboro once for three months, and came back. He came to Aruba and, because I had worked with him at Foxboro, they assigned him to me. We were working on numbers 7 and 8 pressure stills, field overhauling the wet gas meters. This type of Mercury Manometers had to be opened up and cleaned. A gummy carbon-like material, collected on the walls and bottom of the inside of the "float chambers,” and they had a pungent hydrocarbon odor. When you worked on them, your hands were coated with a film of graphite-like material that was difficult to wash off. I disassembled one to show Autin, my assistant, and told him to clean it. He said, "You mean I've got to get in there and clean out that stuff?" I said, "Yes sir, let's go. Get busy!" It so happened that he was married and his wife stayed stateside. In those days, you had to be foreman or of higher rank to have your family with you. Working in the field proved too strenuous and too dirty for him and he missed his wife. He quit after eleven days and went back to Foxboro. 81 CUB SCOUTS For a time, I was a leader in the Cub Scout Pack in the Lago Colony in Aruba. I used to give talks on Astronomy and I accompanied them on a couple of campouts. GOLF During my first year in Aruba I played golf for a short time on Aruba's course. I never gained the enthusiasm of the course regulars. After finishing a midnight to 8:00 shift I frequently went with a young operator whose name I can't recall. He was a slender fellow who worked in the High Pressure Stills. I seem to remember that he got unduly disturbed when he made a bad drive or putt. I don't think we ever got past the fifth green before he exploded and threw his clubs to the four winds. The caddies would retrieve them and he would stomp off and go home. I never played more than 9 holes at one time--sailing was more up my alley. FISHING In my search for amusement, before I was married, I sailed from Oranjestad with a fisherman in a regular fishing sailboat. The vessel was a locally built 28 foot single-masted boat, with a mainsail and jib. The crew consisted of three Arubans and one fellow from Trinidad. Accommodations were quite primitive; they didn't have modern conveniences such as compasses or toilets or electricity. For direction, they calculated their position by remaining in sight of Mount Hooiberg, the tallest elevation on Aruba. For calls of nature, they used the leeward (downwind) rail; for light, a kerosene lantern. The Dutch harbor master who had arranged the trip for me suggested I bring along canned fruit juices. I had the foresight to bring some canned corned beef and other provisions that would keep in the heat of the Caribbean. The first night they all went below to sleep. It was so stuffy below decks, I couldn't sleep. So I came up and slept on the rough, fishy-smelling deck covered with a raincoat. For the remainder of the trip I slept on deck with the boom and the stars over my head. In spite of the basic living arrangements, I really enjoyed those nights and days on the ocean, with the tang of the salt air, the sound of the waves, the creak of the rigging, the flapping of our furled sail against the boom, and the camaraderie of my hard-working shipmates. The captain was bottom fishing for red snapper. There were four hooks a yard apart on their 700-foot line. Scavenger fish always followed fishermen under their boats, waiting for the free meal they always got when the catch was cleaned and the entrails thrown 82 overboard. They would have dined on our bait if they could, but a lead sinker the size and shape of a pear permitted the line to sink rapidly enough to escape their attentions. Red snapper don't give much of a fight; when you feel a bite you give a jerk to set the hook. You don't pull all of that line up for just one fish, you wait until you figure all hooks are full. As they brought the fish up, they threw them on the deck. After an hour or so, they throw a bucket of sea water over them to wash them off and into the hold with the ice they went. When they have a half load, they are brought on deck, gutted, and stacked back on the crushed ice like cordwood. The fishing continued until they had a complete load, usually in about six days. The third day, of our trip, the fish were notably absent, and the crew worked on their gear repairing it and rigging new lines. In spite of its worn appearance, the vessel was solid and in good repair. We never had to bail out anything other than melted ice water although the fishermen were prepared for most eventualities, and they were no strangers to hard work. One day, while the fish were in a feeding frenzy, they worked by lantern light far into the night to make up for the days they had cast their nets in vain. The cooking was boiled or fried, and the only water was a barrel on its side. A wide stave on the top had about a four inch hole cut out and a flap made from an inner tube was nailed over the gap.