Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 249
TALES OF TANKERS
How we learned an important lesson from the
oil tanker building boom – and emerged stronger.
Three historical dates mark the development of tank shipping as we know
it today. The first is not exactly recorded but it was in the year 1854 when
Messrs Bissel and Eveleth purchased a plot owned by Pennsylvania building
material merchants Brewer, Watson & Co. On that plot was a pool of ‘black
water’, that is, of crude oil. The first ever drilling to strike oil at a depth of
21 metres took place in Pennsylvania on 27 August 1859. The world’s first
deepsea tank steamer, the GLÜCKAUF, built for account of Geestemünde
-based forwarder Wilhelm Anton Riedemann, left her builders’ yard to do
sea trials on 13 July 1886. Tank shipping played a minor role at the turn of
the century but was heading for a bright future. Crude oil became the raw
material for gasoline and for a wide assortment of chemical products.
A German encyclopaedia cites the German per-capita consumption of oil in
1865 as 1.5 kg which increased to 13.9 kg by 1903 when Germany imported
1.112 million tonnes of crude oil from the United States of America. The
largest tanker of that year was the NARRANGANSETT owned by Standard
Oil Company, weighing in at an impressive 9,196 GRT and 157 metres loa.
The 12,500 tdw vessel had her engine amidship. In 1908 no fewer than
22 tank steamers flew the German flag, 18 thereof owned by DeutschAmerikanische Petroleum-Gesellschaft. The world’s first diesel tanker was
commissioned in 1901, the EMMANUAL NOBEL of 4,665 GRT. By October 1911
the world tanker fleet numbered 251 units totalling 815,996 GRT, and when
World War II broke out in 1939 the latter figure had increased to 16.1 million
GRT including the then largest tanker, US-flag C.O. STILLMAN of 24,185 tdw,
already built in 1928. Post-World War II motorisation led to a tremendous
growth of the tanker population whilst carrying capacities increased from
20,000 through 30,000 to 40,000 tdw.
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