A HERO captain and a "leader of men" whose ship was first on the scene to help survivors of the Piper Alpha disaster has died.

Captain Sean Ennis died suddenly at his South Shields home on Wednesday, February 18, aged 60.

He was born in Hull in 1954 and grew up at Hesslewood Orphanage.

On July 6, 1988, he was at work in the North Sea when the Piper Alpha oil rig exploded into a raging inferno.

While on the standby vessel Sandhaven, Capt Ennis responded to a Mayday call.

The catastrophe killed 167 men, including two of Capt Ennis's shipmates.

One of them was his best friend, who died when a second explosion engulfed their fast rescue craft, onto which they were pulling survivors from the sea.

In 2013 Oil and Gas People raised over £10,000 to help restore the Piper Alpha memorial gardens in Aberdeen.

This year will mark the 27th anniversary of the tradgedy

In 1990, Capt Ennis was given a commendation by the Government and thanked for his rescue efforts.

His crewmen who died during the rescue mission were awarded the George Medal posthumously.

In 2013, Capt Ennis appeared in a BBC Two documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the disaster.

Fire In The Night, produced by Hessle filmmaker Paul Berriff, won a Scottish Bafta for Best Documentary and captured the largely untold stories and eyewitness accounts of the survivors and rescuers.

Just days after the tragedy, Capt Ennis was asked to return to sea and was sent straight back to Piper Alpha to work for an oil company, where the flames continued to burn for weeks.

Almost 20 years after the disaster, he told a journalist: "If I had known I was going back there I would have asked for something else. It was a nightmare, but you just have to get on with things."

Capt Ennis was also a family man.

His wife, Lynda, led the tributes.

She said: "Sean always wanted to help people and he was a leader of men.

"He would always put other people before himself.

"He was kind and will be sorely missed by me and his stepchildren Jamie and Gillian."

Capt Ennis was nine years old when went to Hesslewood Orphanage with his three brothers in 1963.

He became fascinated by a maritime career when he enrolled at Trinity House School in Hull aged 13 and first went to sea as a deck boy when he turned 17.

Capt Ennis quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a third officer aged 21, a first officer aged 24, and a master aged 28.

He was soon promoted to a captain, a position he held for 23 years.

After 35 years at sea, Capt Ennis was advised to retire from sea duty after developing a back problem.

The father-of-four then started a family business with his Lynda, opening a shop in the coastal town of South Shields.

The couple met there while Capt Ennis was working on a ship dry-docked in the town.

His funeral took place in South Shields.

Source: www.hulldailymail.co.uk

Please leave comments and feedback below