216
A. NELSON-SMITH
nineteenth century. It was shipped in barrels carried in the hold, like
whale oil or any other liquid cargo, but even so was liable to spillage
as with the schooner " Thomas W. Lawson )', wrecked on the Isles of
Scilly in 1907 with the loss of her cargo of two million gallons of crude
oil (Parslow, 1967a). Steamers did not at first engage in the petroleum
trade for fear of fire, so the first true tankers were sailing vessels fitted
out with wing tanks. The Anglo-American Oil Company's " Daylight )',
one of the most successful, sailed on into 1921, although the steamtankers " Gluckauf " and " Bakuin " entered the Batoum oil-service in
1886. At much the same time, the internal-combustion engine and the
steam-turbine were invented. The Royal Navy turned t o oil-firing for
the turbine-driven Tribal-class destroyers in 1908, while the first seagoing motor-ship '' Vulcanus ) ' was launched in 1910.
Much of the early pollution of European coasts was by fuel from
the bilges and bunker-tanks of oil-fired or motor ships, whose numbers
were increasing rapidly. Crude oil was mostly processed in petroleumproducing regions and tankers carried the refined products, many of
which were clean light oils. The shipping lanes converging on the
English Channel are the busiest in the world, so that the degree of
pollution already became sufficient to prompt the passage in 1922 of the
Oil in Navigable Waters Act, which prohibited the discharge of oil or
oily water in British territorial waters. The United States followed with
the Oil Pollution Act of 1924. I n 1926 an international conference in
Washington recommended the establishment of coastal zones 50-150
miles wide in which the discharge of oil should be prohibited ; agreement
could not be reached, but the zones were recognized voluntarily by the
shipowners' associations of many Western nations. The scheme formed
the basis of a Convention drawn up by the League of Nations in 1935
but after the withdrawal of Germany, Italy and Japan from the
League, this Convention could not be ratified and the outbreak of war
in 1939 prevented further action.
I n 1938, world petroleum production was 278 million tons ; western
Europe consumed 36 million tons of oil, of which the British share was
11 million tons. Rate of consumption was enormously accelerated by
the 1939-45 war and subsequent industrial expansion, until by 1967
world production had reached 1 828 million tons and Britain alone
consumed 85 millions tons (Select Committee, 1968 ; British Petroleum
CO., 1968). During this period, the contribution made to world
production by Middle East oilfields grew from nearly 4% to over 27%
(Fig. 1). By 1960, the growth of the European market and the political
instability of the Middle East and other oil-producing regions made it
economically and politically prudent to build refineries at the point of
A. NELSON-SMITH
nineteenth century. It was shipped in barrels carried in the hold, like
whale oil or any other liquid cargo, but even so was liable to spillage
as with the schooner " Thomas W. Lawson )', wrecked on the Isles of
Scilly in 1907 with the loss of her cargo of two million gallons of crude
oil (Parslow, 1967a). Steamers did not at first engage in the petroleum
trade for fear of fire, so the first true tankers were sailing vessels fitted
out with wing tanks. The Anglo-American Oil Company's " Daylight )',
one of the most successful, sailed on into 1921, although the steamtankers " Gluckauf " and " Bakuin " entered the Batoum oil-service in
1886. At much the same time, the internal-combustion engine and the
steam-turbine were invented. The Royal Navy turned t o oil-firing for
the turbine-driven Tribal-class destroyers in 1908, while the first seagoing motor-ship '' Vulcanus ) ' was launched in 1910.
Much of the early pollution of European coasts was by fuel from
the bilges and bunker-tanks of oil-fired or motor ships, whose numbers
were increasing rapidly. Crude oil was mostly processed in petroleumproducing regions and tankers carried the refined products, many of
which were clean light oils. The shipping lanes converging on the
English Channel are the busiest in the world, so that the degree of
pollution already became sufficient to prompt the passage in 1922 of the
Oil in Navigable Waters Act, which prohibited the discharge of oil or
oily water in British territorial waters. The United States followed with
the Oil Pollution Act of 1924. I n 1926 an international conference in
Washington recommended the establishment of coastal zones 50-150
miles wide in which the discharge of oil should be prohibited ; agreement
could not be reached, but the zones were recognized voluntarily by the
shipowners' associations of many Western nations. The scheme formed
the basis of a Convention drawn up by the League of Nations in 1935
but after the withdrawal of Germany, Italy and Japan from the
League, this Convention could not be ratified and the outbreak of war
in 1939 prevented further action.
I n 1938, world petroleum production was 278 million tons ; western
Europe consumed 36 million tons of oil, of which the British share was
11 million tons. Rate of consumption was enormously accelerated by
the 1939-45 war and subsequent industrial expansion, until by 1967
world production had reached 1 828 million tons and Britain alone
consumed 85 millions tons (Select Committee, 1968 ; British Petroleum
CO., 1968). During this period, the contribution made to world
production by Middle East oilfields grew from nearly 4% to over 27%
(Fig. 1). By 1960, the growth of the European market and the political
instability of the Middle East and other oil-producing regions made it
economically and politically prudent to build refineries at the point of