Piper Alpha hero putting bravery medal from Queen up for auction
A Piper Alpha hero who helped save the lives of three oil workers during the 1988 oil rig disaster said yesterday he will sell his Queen's Gallantry Medal at auction to ensure the events are not forgotten.
Merchant Navy captain Ian Mackay was awarded the medal for his bravery during the July 6, 1988 tragedy in which 167 men lost their lives.
He and two crew members of the diving support vessel Lowland Cavalier spent eight hours searching for survivors in a small fibreglass workboat. Braving intense heat, explosions, and falling debris, they saved three of Piper Alpha’s crew.
Mr Mackay, 68, who suffered burns to his nose, hand and right eye. said he is selling the emotive medal as he wants "the Piper Alpha story to be remembered".
Speaking from his home in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, he said: "I was proud to be awarded the QGM but it has been in a safe for over 30 years, and I've only brought it out twice, on the 20th and 25th anniversaries.
"With everything going on at the moment you look at your own mortality. I thought about who I would leave my medal to but I've got two sons and two stepdaughters - the fairest thing was to put it up for auction and, hopefully, the proceeds can go towards a family holiday when we are allowed to travel again.
"I still have the QGM ribbon on my uniform, which I bring out on special occasions, and I've got an album of letters and press cuttings, but there's no point in the medal sitting in a safe all these years. I'd like to think that by selling it, it will help keep the memory (of Piper Alpha) alive."
The medal, still in "extremely fine" condition, will go under the hammer at Dix Noonan Webb's sale of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria in London on February 17 with an estimate of £4,000-£5,000.
Mr Mackay and crewmen Chris Dunwoody and Peter Thomas were each awarded the QCM "in recognition of bravery during the hazardous evacuation and rescue operations following the explosions and fire which destroyed the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea on the night of 6 July 1988".
They were presented with their medals by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on March 12, 1991.
The Piper Alpha oil and gas production platform was operated by Occidental Petroleum, 120 miles off the northeast coast of Aberdeen. The disaster began at 9.55pm, when leaking gas ignited causing the first of a series of catastrophic explosions. Of the 226 crew on the platform, 165 died and 61 were saved. A further two rescuers from the standby vessels also died.
Mr Mackay, in his harrowing account to the public inquiry that followed, recalled how the Lowland Cavalier was stationed off Piper Alpha, laying cable, when the first explosion occurred.
He and his crew immediately boarded the vessel's small fibreglass workboat and made for the rig. They picked up two survivors before another huge explosion caused a fireball to sweep over the small craft and forced the crew to leap into the water and cling onto grablines. Around midnight, they located a third survivor in the water.