At my age I do what Mark Twain did. I get my daily paper, look at the obituaries page and if I'm not there I carry on as usual

Yours truly in his Port Moresby office

It was early 1982 when I was hired to set up all the accounting and administrative functions for Steamships-Brambles Joint Venture's tug-and-barge operations up the Fly River to supply the Ok Tedi Mine, then being built in the Star Mountains of Papua New Guinea.

The Far Eastern Economic Review got it right in its "Steaming to success" headline as within just a few weeks of my having set up the billing processes, I was able to pick up the first monthly progress payment of Kina 1,231,182.92 (then well in excess of $1.5million).

Of course, what also helped was that the mine construction manager I was sending my billings to was the same Bechtel Corporation I had worked for during my days on the Bougainville Copper job and that my former boss, Sid Lhotka, was again in charge of all payments. He knew I would bill him fairly and squarely which allowed him to pass my billing quickly and without deductions.

So what has all this to do with looking at obituaries?

Well, at the end of my very successful assignment (which I could have continued indefinitely but instead chose to move on to Saudi Arabia - a big mistake with sad consequences but that's another story), my boss handed me this glowing reference:

He is the same man whose obituary I read this morning on the internet:

Obituary - Alan William Curtis (1947 - 2009) Alan was appointed General Manager of Hong Kong Salvage & Towage in 1985 following a successful period in Papua New Guinea. Alan modernized HKST’s fleet, ordering two new tugs from Japan which were delivered in 1986. He also embarked upon the construction of the 4000BHP Tai O, the first of a series of powerful and versatile tugs which were excellent seagoing salvage vessels but could also work as harbour tugs when required. In those days, Alan commanded Tai O himself when she went to sea and ran the company between voyages. Before long, the company was attempting salvage jobs with Alan as salvage master. However, as the company grew, Alan had to curtail his seagoing activities and was promoted to Managing Director. But he always remained involved in salvage work and it is a tribute to his skills that the company never lost a casualty and succeeded in saving every ship they attempted to salvage. Perhaps his most famous case was the recovery of a Boeing 747 from the waters of Hong Kong harbour in 1992. As the company expanded, Alan began to seek opportunities in new areas like waste transfer. He also secured tug work overseas and soon had HKST tugs operating in areas from the Arabian Gulf to Australia. In 1995, Alan was transferred to Singapore as Managing Director of Swire Pacific Offshore, having transformed HKST into a company with a worldwide reputation for excellence. Alan Curtis was a devoted family man: his wife Leslie and their children, Victoria and Alan were always his greatest delight.

Another one who's sailed over the horizon. Some days it gets a bit hard to carry on as usual!

January 2011
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