In 47 ft. of water off the coast of Louisiana last week, a strange-looking structure on ten giant steel "legs" hummed with activity. On its 203-ft.-long platform, propped 38 ft. above the water, lay all the tools, cables, pipe and machinery needed for oil drilling. In the center stood an oil derrick, at one end a helicopter landing space and a small portable bunkhouse. Built by Manhattan's DeLong Engineering & Construction Co. and J. Ray McDermott Co. of Houston, and leased to Humble Oil, the odd-looking dock-barge is the first of its kind in the world, promises to be...
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