Saturday, 25 May 2019

Circular No 916







Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 25 of May 2019 No. 916
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Dear Friends,
Here is an interesting part of the history of the first oil well in Trinidad.
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Nigel Boos <nigelboos@gmail.com>
To: peter darwent
Jan 26 at 11:32 AM
Hello again, Peter,
Thanks so much for your interesting email, clarifying Nigel’s address et al.
I really do not think that he attended the Abbey School, but rather, that he was a student at St. Peter’s in Pointe-a-Pierre. As a result, I’m going to remove his name from the database, and I would ask other recipients of this email to do likewise. 
Since I have you “on the line”, please help me to update your own record: Are you still living at 7 Bayliss Rd., Wargrave, Berkshire, RG108DR? And is your phone number still (UK) 011-89-404464?
It’s not every day that I get to do such updates, but it helps everyone who uses the MSB database to keep in touch with their friends and old classmates.
I’m not sure whether you realize this, Peter, but your family holds an important place in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. This is the fact: Although the first well in the world was drilled in Trinidad in 1857 - 280 feet deep, in the vicinity of the Pitch Lake by Walter Darwent, for his Merrimac Oil Company, (beating by 2 years, the well drilled by Colonel Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859), it was not until 9 years later, in 1866, that the first SUCCESSFUL oil well was drilled in the island in the Aripero area, ‘down South”, again by your own forbear, Walter Darwent, after whom your brother was named. Now, maybe this is old news for you, and something hardly even mentioned within the family, but the rest of us should at least be aware of the part played by your family in the exploration, drilling and production of oil. So now, tell me, was the ‘original’ Walter your grandfather or perhaps a great uncle? (I think he was your grand-dad!)
If you should happen possess any records concerning this oil-well, or any letters from your grandfather or great-uncle on the subject, may I ask what you’d plan to do with them. Of course, they could be handed down to your own family (which I’d recommend), but in the event that you “don’t know what to do with them” (???), may I suggest that they be passed down to the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries in Trinidad?  
I’ve written about the Aripero well, and for your own interest, here’s what I’d said:
1857              Trinidad’s First Oil Well
Trinidad had the distinctive honour of being the first country in the world to drill an oil producing well, when the Merrimac Oil Company drilled a 280' well in 1857 in the vicinity of the Pitch Lake. It was the idea of Lord Cochrane, the Governor, who had considered the idea of obtaining soil to set up a large bonfire atop Trinity Cathedral in Port of Spain to act as an effective lighthouse for ships entering the harbour. Subsequently, an American expatriate engineer named Walter Darwent in 1857 drilled a successful producer at La Brea.
In 1859, so the story goes, the world was changed forever by an event that took place near Titusville in northwestern Pennsylvania. On August 27, Edwin L. Drake struck oil in the first commercially successful well drilled specifically for oil and launched the modern petroleum industry in the United States.
Drake did not discover oil, nor was he the first to find it in North America. Native Americans had gathered oil from wood-cribbed seeps and springs along Oil Creek since the 1400s. By the eighteenth century, oil traded by Seneca Indians, called "Seneca Oil," was used medicinally by settlers throughout the region. Reports emanating from China also speak of oil seeps, which were regularly used by the early peasants as a heating fuel.
Drake's achievement has been marked in many ways over the years since his well struck oil in 1859. Today, the Drake Well Museum welcomes visitors from all over the world to the industrial buildings, historic oil machinery, educational exhibits, and 219 acres of grounds surrounding the original well. An operating replica of Drake's engine house, derrick, and steam engine show how crude oil was pumped out of the ground and tell the story of the birth of the modern petroleum industry, which began in Pennsylvania in 1859.
Two years before Col. Drake drilled in Titusville, however, another enterprising prospector, by the name of Walter Darwent tried his hand at drilling close to an oil-seep near the world-famous Pitch Lake of Trinidad. In 1857, Darwent successfully drilled and produced oil in South Trinidad, using conventional drilling methods of the day. Eventually though, it was not until 1866 that Darwent finally discovered oil in substantial volume to ensure the success of a viable petroleum industry in Trinidad, a discovery for which he is rightly remembered..
Unfortunately, this well has since sunk into the ground, a phenomenon for which the Pitch Lake is rightly famous, and it can no longer be pinpointed. 
However, the second well drilled in Trinidad is still standing. It was drilled at Aripero in 1862, on lands which today (2007) are still virgin soil, and on which no house should ever be built, not only because of the historical nature of the site, but also because the red clayey soil, once exposed, will, within a few days show evidence of oil seeps everywhere.
I attended a geological expedition to this well, around 1971, which was conducted by a retired English expatriate geologist from Texaco, whose name I no longer remember. Benches were placed around the site, and he lectured us using a portable loudspeaker.
I again visited the well site around 1977, together with my wife, Jackie and her younger brother, Brendan. He took a picture of the well, which I subsequently enlarged and framed, and which I gave to my niece, Krysta De Lima, who was working at British Gas, in Trinidad, as the Manager of the Legal Department of the company.
In 1982, I was working in Forest Reserve, in the south of Trinidad, carrying out a demulsifier testing program for Trintoc. When I happened to pass by the little road leading to this historic well. I decided to stop by to have a look at it again, and to my horror, I saw that someone, a land developer perhaps, had bulldozed the entire acreage around the well-head, possibly with the hope of building some houses for sale. The red clay soil was newly exposed, and I could see around the area very clearly. I was extremely disappointed, because I realized there and then how quickly this page of history could be obliterated. It would take very little effort to erect a number of houses on that spot, and the historical significance of the area would be lost and forgotten. I was devastated! Could the authorities not realize the importance of this spot? Really! I mean, surely this well could be deemed an historical landmark and declared “Out of Bounds” for any commercial or residential development! But no! It was going to be built up into some sort of housing complex.
Aripero Well #1, drilled in 1862 by Walter Darwent, the second well drilled in Trinidad
I went to work and was busy for 3 days on the job, when, on returning to my home in Port of Spain, I again stopped by the well site to take another look at the damage, which had been inflicted on the land.
I drove down the little laneway and got out of the car. I looked at the bulldozed land once again, but this time, my mouth simply fell open and I stared in awe. Wherever I looked, the red soil had become contaminated with black oil, which had seeped up from below. I had to be very careful to step between the little oil rivulets that meandered back and forth across the surface of the clay.
It was then that I rejoiced! I realized, all of a sudden, that this area was full of oil seeps, and that these very seeps must have provided the initial inspiration for Darwent et al to drill those first wells, back in the 1850’s and 60’s. And I realized too, that this area was safe, safe from the threat of land development, because no one, but no one will EVER build in the vicinity of this wellhead. It will forever remain a historic sanctuary to recall the heady, glorious days of early oil exploration.
Subsequently, I worked at Farmers Valley, Pennsylvania for 3 years, between 2001 and 2004, when I wrote Standard Operating Procedures for Honeywell’s Specialty Chemical Wax Plant. I had been sub-contracted to write these SOP’s, since the employee work force was then very old and most were nearing retirement. Honeywell realized that they had no documentation to cover the operations of the various units within the plant, and they feared that the expertise and knowledge of the old men would be forever lost when they retired. Operating procedures had indeed been written many years previously, and this particular plant had been in existence since 1919, if my memory serves me correctly. However, the refinery had been built on the curve of a river, and as later transpired, it was subject to the occasional flooding of this river, an occurrence which had occurred four times since it had been built. Additionally, a fire had broken out some years beforehand, and what with water-damage and fire-loss, all of the old operating procedures had been totally lost. New, younger workers would be required to operate the units, but with no clear definition and protocols, they would simply not know where to begin. 
It was during one of my bi-weekly visits to Farmer’s Valley that I took the enlarged photograph taken by Brendan, of Trinidad’s Aripero Well #2 with me. I wanted to hear what the old men had to say about it. Without any introduction, I placed the photograph on the ground, leaning against a filing cabinet in the Operation Room of the Re-Run Unit, which also doubled as a lunchroom for the 3 operators. Eventually, when lunchtime arrived, one old fellow, sitting to his meal, said to me, “I see you’ve got a picture of Hank’s old well there, eh?”
“No”, I replied, “that’s not Hank’s old well at all.”
“Of course it is.” You gonna tell me? Hey, I been huntin’ these parts longer than I can remember. I’ve seen that well, and I know Hank’s well, and that’s Hank’s well. Don’t tell me ‘No’”.
I then challenged him. “Look,” said I, “why don’t you go up close and look at it again, and then tell me if you still think that that it is really a photograph of Hank’s well.”
Still mumbling to himself, he sidled slowly over to the picture, bent over and stared at it for a while. Then he said, “Shucks. You know, that sure looks like Hank’s well. But I’ll be damned. There’s some kind of grass growing’ behind it that I don’t know what it is. Where was this picture taken?”
“Now, I’ll tell you”. I said. “That grass is called ‘Roseau’. That picture was taken in Trinidad, in the West Indies, and it was drilled in 1862. It was the second well drilled in Trinidad, and it is still standing there.”
“You gotta be kiddin’. So, you mean there was another one before this one? So, when was it drilled, then?”
“Our first well was drilled in 1857, by a gentleman named Walter Darwent. He anticipated Drake’s well in Pennsylvania by 2 years.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then, you deserve the First Prize”, he said, and so saying, he disappeared for a moment into a small back room where he had a personal locker.
He emerged a moment later, carrying a small bottle of crude oil. “Here”, he said. “This is the First Prize. This is oil that came from Drake’s well, and I think you should have it. Well done.”
And so saying, he sat down to finish his sandwich.
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On Jan 26, 2019, at 6:36 AM,
peter darwent <ppdarwent@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi Nigel,
I have had no contact with Nigel for very many years.
His brother's address is – c.darwent@independent.co.uk
and his sister's  address is –  stuckinthemud@shaw.ca
Again I have had no contact with them for many years,
I do not know if he went to the Mount but I doubt it.
Best regards,
Peter.
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From:  Nigel Boos <nigelboos@gmail.com>
Sent:  23 January 2019 16:23
To:  ppdarwent@hotmail.com
Subject:  Nigel Darwent's email address
Hello, Peter,
I’m coming to you to ask for help, please.
We’re trying to update the MSB Old Boys database and we need to find a valid email address for Nigel Darwent, if in fact he attended school at Mt. St. Benedict.
Currently, the email address we have for him is:        
ndarwent@gmail.com      but it isn’t working
If by chance you happen to know Nigel's email address, would you mind letting us have it?
Thank you in advance.
Nigel Boos
Class of 1960
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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz,  kertesz11@yahoo.com,  if you would like to be in the circular’s mailing list, this time it is not 50 words but 52 USD for the year. This money shall be used to cover the production of the 52 issues a year.
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Photos:
57RB0002d2,
18UN0012REUNION2018, Avalon Kalloo, Robert Oconnell, Phillip Evans
51WD0002MONKS
19UN0001AWE, The Aripero Well








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