Interviewer(s): James Sell; Diane Austin. Houma, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Both L.J. Folse and Hartwell Lewis mentioned C J Christ as a local historian, although his reputation had to do with his knowledge of U-boats in the Gulf so I put off contacting him. When I had some free time, I looked up his address and found that he lived right next to my motel, so I called. He invited me over immediately, so I gathered my notebooks and tape recorder and walked over. It turns out he was an oil field pilot who also worked with mud and later on offshore service boats, and is very knowledgeable. My interview with him was spread over 3 days.

Charles Christ, known over Houma as "CJ," is a pilot who had a varied set of experiences in the oil fields. Before completing college, he joined the US Air Force and served as a bomber pilot in Korea. After the Air Force, he returned to college, then started driving a truck for Halliburton in 1954. In 1956 he became a mud engineer, working for Magnet Cove Barium (Magcobar - now owned by Dresser Industries). As a pilot, he flew to his mud engineering jobs. In 1959 he became chief pilot for Magcobar and set up their aviation and pilot training program, so that all mud engineers could fly to their jobs. In 1963 he had a partnership with a friend to create Coastal Marine (Comar), an offshore boat contractor. In 1964 he started Houma Aviation Services, a fixed base floatplane operator at the Houma Airport. Houma Aviation was caught in the 1980s oil bust and went bankrupt in 1989. So at 61, Charles became a boat captain for Coastal Marine, running crew and supply boats to the offshore platforms until retiring in 1995. He is well known for his knowledge of naval and marine history, especially U-boats in World War II, and consults on underwater archaeology.