January 05 & 06, 2024: Exploring the History of Hot Sauce and Oil Drilling in Louisiana

DID YOU KNOW? Avery Island, Louisiana is home to the McIlhenny Tabasco factory. Built on a salt dome 150 years ago by Edmund McIlhenny, this factory can produce up to 720,000 2-oz bottles of Tabasco sauce daily. This popular hot sauce is sold in more than 195 countries, with labels printed in 36 different languages. Tabasco sauce is included in U.S. military Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs). Australia, Canada, and England all issue Tabasco rations to their military as well. Additionally, McIlhenny Tabasco is one of only 850 companies around the world that has been designated as a supplier for the British royal family. Tabasco sauce is also popular with NASA astronauts as a way to counteract bland space-food.

I personally did not tour the Tabasco museum, as I'm not a huge fan of this condiment (it actually ended up being a guys-only tour, LOL), but I received reports that it was really neat and well worth the ticket cost ($15).

All peppers used in Tabasco sauce are grown on the island and hand-picked

The peppers are turned into a mash and aged for 3 years in these barrels before becoming hot-sauce

Bottling, capping and labeling

This hot sauce was so popular with the military, that fighter jets nicknames often included the brand

Its hard to see because of the reflection, but this soldier's ammo belt contains mini bottles of Tabasco sauce instead of normal cartridges

The Tabasco company has also planted and grown a beautiful Jungle Garden with many different species of plants, trees, and animals. With both a drive-thru option and a walking path, it would be a lovely place to spend a sunny day...but, unfortunately, it was pouring rain while we were there - turning it into a rainforest, LOL. ]

Bamboo can grow about a foot a day, making it a very replenishable resource

The Jungle Garden turned rainforest. It really was beautiful though :)

Unfortunately, we still haven't seen an alligator! Maybe in Florida?

Our second tour was the Mr. Charlie Oil Drilling Rig in Morgan City, Louisiana. Created by Alden "Doc" Labadore, Mr. Charlie was the first offshore drilling rig that was fully transportable, submersible, and self-sufficient. The success of Mr. Charlie led to a revolution in the oil drilling industry, as off-shore drilling became much more efficient. Mr. Charlie operated from 1952 until 1986, when drilling depths exceeded his 40-foot capacity. During his tenure, he drilled more than 200 oil and gas wells along the Gulf Coast.

This barge can carry up to 58 crew members, with room to store food, drinking water, and other such supplies for the crew. Mr. Charlie generated his own electricity, processed his own waste, carried his own communication system, and provided enough fuel to accomplish his tasks. Mr. Charlie is 220-feet long and 74-feet wide, with 136-feet long pontoons extending under the living quarters.

Mr. Charlie is the only place in the world where the general public can tour an authentic offshore drilling rig. He proved to be the most interesting tour we've taken on our trip so far, with a wonderful guide who was full of knowledge. We all learned a tremendous amount about the oil drilling industry, specifically in the Gulf.

Mr. Charlie was the first ever transportable, submersible, offshore, drilling rig

Climbing up to the deck of Mr. Charlie

Cramped as they are, these rooms seem spacious compared to the RV, LOL

Explaining the progression of technology in oil drilling rigs.

A similar model to Mr. Charlie

Imagine climbing 60 feet down this ladder to the engine room...no thanks :)

This big machine is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) made for doing underwater repairs while controlled from the deck

This picture gives an idea of the robots size compared to us

This is where all the drilling action took place

When an employee's leave time came, they would need to transfer from Mr. Charlie to another boat that would take them back to shore. This was often accomplished via an offshore personnel transfer basket lifted by a crane and maneuvered to set down neatly (in theory) on the other boat. This was interesting enough on calm days, but on rough days it could lead to a very terrifying ride. See the video below to see a transfer in action.

This offshore personnel transfer basket was used to transfer employees from the drilling rig to other boats as needed

These metal tubes are what would have been being placed down into the well to extract the oil. Nowadays, these tubes are much longer...meaning that Mr. Charlie wouldn't be able to fit them on his deck.

The crane that lifted and lowered the metal tubes into the drill that would insert them into the well

Look at all that machinery!

These are the first of a few tours we are doing in Louisiana... stay tuned for our thoughts on the next tour: a grand Creolan plantation and it's tragic history of enslavement

Until next time, God bless!