BP Shipping Pictorial; The Golden Years 1945 – 1975. By Ray Solly. Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath, Scotland, 2023.
Reviewed by Tim Coyle
To the everyday citizen, oil tankers bring our fuel from remote oilfields, generally regarded as the Middle East – their cargoes delivered, via the labyrinthine oil distribution system, to neighbourhood fuel outlets to keep our economies functioning.
The ‘oil shocks’ of the 1970s have been replaced by see-sawing fuel prices ‘at the bowser’ for which ‘greedy oil companies’ and ‘international cost pressures over which the government has no control’ are variously blamed. If citizens ever think about oil tankers, they envision vast floating structures plying between desolate and remote ports; they rarely see them as they discharge into equally remote oil refineries and tank farms.
Oil tankers have been with us since 1861 when the brig Elizabeth Watts carried 1300 barrels of crude oil from the Delaware River to the Thames. In 1863, the Atlantic, an iron-hulled sailing vessel, was built with one continuous centreline oil-tight longitudinal bulkhead, fitted with three transverse bulkheads providing eight cargo tanks for 700 tons of oil. From these humble beginnings, oil tankers developed through two world wars, fuelled by petroleum carried by tankers. The first British Tanker Company (forerunner of the British Petroleum fleet) vessel was British Emperor of 5500 summer deadweight tonnage (sdwt) launched in 1916, and the last tanker described in the book was the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), British Ranger of 265, 617 sdwt launched in August 1975.
Ray Solly is a former merchant navy navigating officer whose experience covers cargo carriers and tankers. Turning from long distance shipping to academia, he served on the coastal trade during university vacations. He subsequently taught at independent schools while ‘moonlighting’ as a navigation instructor at the School of Maritime Operations at HMS Dryad. He has written 15 maritime-related books. From this background it is probably fair to say that Solly experienced the zenith of the British Merchant Navy before the industry transitioned to the multi-national characteristics existing today.
As the book’s name implies, it is primarily a pictorial history of this major shipping company. As such the accompanying text is precise and disciplined. The extensive photo archive is accompanied by captions detailing ships’ characteristics, careers and scrapping dates. From this it appears the average life of a tanker was approximately 20 years; some even being discarded after 10 years, reflecting industry exigencies influenced by global economics. Many configuration drawings accompany photographs of significant tankers.
Of particular interest are the views of officer and crew accommodation in the tankers. Standards have traditionally been high on these types of ships to offset the long voyages between ports which have little, if any, shoreside attractions for ‘runs ashore’. Space restrictions were not considerations in these large vessels and spacious and well-equipped galleys provided high standards of victualing.
The book’s Introduction provides a concise history of tanker origins leading to Chapter One: The state of the BP fleet until 1939. Even at this early stage, accommodation standards were high as evidenced by photographs in officers’ facilities aboard British Endurance in 1936. Chapter Two: The ravages of war 1939-1945 covers losses, Merchant Aircraft Carrier conversions, Replenishment at Sea and other initiatives. Chapter Three: Recovery: 1946-1950, a time of optimism, deals with new construction and the post-war boom – covered in Chapter Four: Emergence – Growth in the 1950s. The 1960s was ‘A roller coaster period’, described in Chapter 6 while Chapter 7 looks at the ‘Trading successes of the early 1970s’, before the oil industry upheavals. These chapters are liberally supported by photographs of machinery and control spaces, as are panoramic views of the vast weather decks with the cargo lines, deck valves, catwalks and anchor windlasses.
The vagaries of the tanker trade are mentioned with lay-ups from the 1970s oil shocks resulting from OPEC’s raising oil prices and Libya seizing oil company assets. In 1975, 466 tankers were laid up with orders for 174 tankers cancelled and 219 were scrapped. Notwithstanding this, Chapter 8: BP Shipping Company’s 1970s VLCC revolution describes these giants under construction in Japanese and Korean yards and the camera angles still fascinate the reader with their enormity.
Chapter Eight also contains a range of topics including deck officer cadet training and images of routine duties at sea. Rarely seen images of cargo pumps, ballast systems, cargo suction piping and an explanation of the Inert Gas System (which reduces the danger of explosions during discharge) are depicted and described.
The introduction of VLCCs raised major infrastructure issues: their large draughts precluded discharging at established ports and pier extensions and infrastructure upgrades were prohibitively expensive. This led to single buoy mooring, where practicable, and a system of ship lightering. This enabled smaller tankers – of 50/60,000 sdwt capability – to come alongside VLCCs to decant cargo for discharge ashore. A photograph taken from a VLCC shows British Dragoon (the receptor) alongside the VLCC with ‘lowered midship derrick holding the collecting pipe. This is being made fast, to the main cargo pipes; once connected, the pipe will be raised taking the strain off the railings of both ships. Lightering was usually quite uncomplicated…’. The accompanying photograph shows British Dragoon (52,928 sdwt) underway showing four foam-filled fenders which were suspended on specially designed davits enabling raising and lowering.
BP Shipping Pictorial 1945-1975 is a definitive history of this company. Given the study ends in 1975, it is difficult to believe these modern-looking ships are now long gone! Typographical errors are minimal: ‘1991’ appears in two captions where ‘1971’ was probably meant.
In the Conclusion Solly states the ‘golden years for BP Corporate ended in 1973 with OPEC’s decisive raising of oil process…’. However, BP’s investments in its North Seas Forties oilfields and Prince Edward Sound in Canada helped offset these setbacks.
BP Shipping Pictorial is a must for merchant ship enthusiasts. Written by a professional, it packs a huge amount of detail into its 143 pages. Will we see a BP Shipping Pictorial 1976 – 2023?
