My father, Walther Ludvigsen, was employed as a mooring master in 1951 at the Trans Arabian Pipeline Company's Zahrani terminal south of Saida. His job was similar to a ship's pilot, mooring, loading and taking out tankers shipping crude oil to Europe and the US East Coast. The crude was pumped from Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil fields through the western desert into Jordan, across the Golan and into Lebanon. The picture is from the bridge looking aft on a T-2 tanker originally built for the US war effort. The tankers were built in a record time of 2 weeks on a prefabricated element assembly line system. Along side is one of the small Tapline tugs. Also visible is the hoist line from the ships crane securing the hose through which the crude oil flows into the ship's deck manifold. Beyond is the coast and South Lebanon foothills.

- Børre Ludvigsen <borrel@hiof.no>

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