Of current interest: Offshore oil-well drilling platform towed to Italian site

A HUGE three-legged “self-elevating portable island” recently began drilling an offshore oil well 1 1/4 miles off the coast of Gela, Sicily, after making a rough 7,000-mile tow-voyage from the United States to the Mediterranean Sea. Part of the voyage was through 75-foot seas, according to the captain of the ocean tug Zeeland which handled the crossing. At one point, the 1,000-ton platform is reported to have ripped loose from the tug, but because of the platform's stability while afloat, it arrived without damage.