Testing Sea Legs. Going up (in bottom photo) and in place (top photo) nine stories above the Mississippi River is a mammoth "portable island" which will see service in the Gulf of Mexico. The 140ft storm-proof legs and island were being testing before being floated 400 miles downstream to the gulf. The platform floats, attached to legs, then "climbs" the legs as in bottom photo. This one is slated foroff-shore oil drilling work. Other platforms can be used as off-shore radar stations and "floating works". The Zapata Off-Shore Company of Houston, Texas, purchased the rig for two million dollars from the RG Le Tourneau firm of Longview, Texas. Mississippi, USA. 29 November 1955.