Global Marine Systems history

A look into the rich history of the market leaders in offshore engineering since 1860

Global Marine was founded in 1953 as an offshore drilling venture formed by four small oil companies.

The situation changed dramatically in 1958 when the state of Louisiana and the federal government became embroiled in a dispute over the ownership of the tidelands where oil companies were drilling.

Global grew rapidly, going public in 1962.

By 1965 the firm's revenues reached $21.5 million, and all of its rigs were rented for two or more years in advance.

Such was the Houston company's prowess that in 1972 the Central Intelligence Agency used a Global Marine ship, the Glomar Explorer, to recover pieces of a Russian submarine that had sunk in 17,000 feet of water in the Pacific.

Sales grew as its fleet expanded, reaching $89 million by 1974.

Finally in 1979, with oil prices rising, Global ordered 17 jack-up rigs for $400 million, to better compete for jobs in shallow waters.

Captain Tollady joined the company as a Third Officer in 1983.

In 1984 Global had to make a $120 million interest payment on its new rigs, at a time when half of its rigs were leased under break-even contracts.

When oil prices collapsed, Global Marine went with them, entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1986 to escape $1.2 billion in debt.

Drilling picked up somewhat in 1987, but Global still had only about half of its rigs active, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, while a worldwide oversupply of drilling rigs kept prices low.

The firm continued to lose money ($155.6 million in 1988 alone) as it struggled to reorganize.

Captain Kevin Widdowson began his cable ship career in 1989, and spent his early years engaged in major Installation work around the Far East and North Pacific Region.

Under these conditions, Global was able to cut its debt by another $60 million by the end of 1991, aided by the terms of its new debt service agreement.

His first command was ten years later in 1993.

SBSS is a joint venture established in 1995 with China Telecom, based in Shanghai, offering installation capability to both telecoms and oil & gas.

Paul heads up the Global Marine Project Delivery Team and has been with the company since 1998.

Appointed Managing Director of Offshore Marine in June 2002, Simon Hounsome is responsible for leading Offshore Marine’s commercial, operations, engineering, and project management teams both on- and off-shore.

Neil came ashore in 2004 as Technical Superintendent, followed by Fleet Manager, Fleet Director and Managing Director across the oil, chemical, offshore and gas industries.

In 2006, Paul was involved with the DP2 conversion onboard the C.S. Sovereign, and since then has been the continuity Senior DPO/Chief Mate/Master for wind farm burials and inter-array installations, renewable energy projects and telecoms cable installations.

In 2007, he moved ashore and has subsequently held a number of senior posts at the Company’s UK head office including Director Fleet & Operational Support then Director, Global Technical Sales, and most recently focusing on business development opportunities in Asia.

Gary’s career journey with Global Marine began on board the Wave Sentinel in 2008.

A move towards the maintenance side of the business in 2012 has brought about a mix of deep and shallow water repairs, in and around the Pacific & Caribbean, where Kevin’s project management experience and skills as a beach master have been particularly useful.

Following several years working in other sectors including professional services, retail and manufacturing in both large corporations as well as small start-ups, she returned to Global Marine Group in 2014 heading up marketing activities across the Group.

David, who joined in 2018, is the RQHSE Business Partner for Global Marine.

Nathanael joined the business in August 2019 and brings extensive commercial, operational and customer relations experience to CWind.

Global Marine is recognised as a high quality, strategic partner, with a successful track record across the telecommunications industry with many returning customers; a recent key project is BT’s R100 North contract taking place in 2021.