It is with great sadness that ISCO has learned of the death of former ISCO Secretary General John McMurtrie during post-operative convalescence following a fall. On behalf of the ISCO Board, Council, and membership, ISCO extends its condolences to John’s family and friends.
John graduated from Aberdeen University in 1959 and was initially involved in the operation of services for the fishing industry. He subsequently developed a keen interest in oil pollution control. He became a director of a Christian Salvesen subsidiary, responsible for business development including oil pollution control. John resigned from Salvesen in 1978 and established Alba International Ltd.
As owner and MD of Alba, John, assisted by ex-RN engineer Bob McWhinnie BEM, led a strong team responsible for UK and International Operations – Activities included maintaining of 24/7 response capability for UK oil and NGL pipelines (BP and Shell). He also organised storage, maintenance and rapid mobilisation arrangements for dispersant stockpiles at strategic locations for the then UKOOA and the British Government MPCU. He conceived and initiated the “National Oil Pollution Control Club” (NOPCC) which guaranteed a rapid response for its members. Other UK involvements included Alba’s inputs to the Piper Alpha, Tranmere, Rosebay, Braer and Sea Empress incidents and several interventions to recover oil from marine casualties.
As on-call consultant to IMO and UNDP John carried out projects in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania and Iran. His other oversea activities included a large-scale air mobilization for the Nowruz Oil Spill (Saudi Arabia 1983); the set-up and management of 4 oil spill response bases in Nigeria; intervention in the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster (oil pollution and hazardous chemicals in 1987, organisation of company’s contribution to the Exxon Valdez spill (equipment and 42 personnel over 6 months, Alaska 1989); and many other responses.
In1984, John and David Usher of Marine Pollution Control (Detroit, USA) co-founded a new company, the International Spill Control Organisation (ISCO). The objective of ISCO was to develop worldwide preparedness and co-operation in response to oil and chemical spills, promote technical development and professional competency, and to provide a focus for making the experience of spill control professionals available to IMO, UNEP, and other international organisations.
Working with John Dawes (founder of the International Spill Accreditations Association (ISAA), John was a member of the Supervisory Board of ISAA, a body set up to administer the UK Oil Spill Contractors Accreditation Scheme established by BOSCA. He regularly attended ISAA meetings in Dublin and Belfast, helped organised ISAA events and took care of most of admin functions for ten years.
Following the acquisition of Alba by the Briggs Group in 1996, he became a director of Briggs Environmental Services Ltd. (BESL). He continued to manage all Alba’s contracts on behalf of BESL (NOPCC members, BP, Shell, UKOOA, British Government MPCU, MOD) and to work with railways, power generators, other utilities and manufacturing industry. Highlights included the creation of Briggs Egypt (winning a contract for operation of OSR bases in Egypt); oil removal from the sunken WW2 battleship HMS Royal Oak (Scapa Flow, Orkney, UK); the preparation of Malta’s national oil spill contingency plan; and the development of a plan for an integrated oil spill contingency plan addressing upstream, downstream, onshore and offshore spill response for a major oil company in Nigeria.
After retiring from Briggs at age 70 In 2004, John set up a new company – Balbithan Ltd. – and the new company completed a major project for British Maritime Technology (BMT) in September 2004, involving a particularly difficult sub-sea HFO spill in Malaysia.
John retired as ISCO Secretary General in 2017 and handed over this role to Matthew Sommerville. At the request of David Usher, he started publication of the ISCO Newsletter in 2005.
ISCO will run a full retrospective on John’s immeasurable contribution after the summer break. If anyone wants to say something in memorial then please email the Editor – [email protected].
The funeral will be at Baldarroch Chapel & Crematorium, Crathes, Banchory, AB31 5JL on Thursday 20th August at 1pm.
The funeral is open to all. Family flowers only please.
The family have asked for donations in lieu of flowers, if people wish, which should be sent to Médecins Sans Frontières. A Just Giving page has been set up here –
