They were the great ships that the World depended on for it's vital supplies of oil. Crewed by men who sacrificed their lives in times of war and enabled the world to prosper in times of
peace. In the 1950's, during the heyday of Merchant shipping. there were over 2,000 oceangoing Tankers in service. This video is a tribute to all those people who worked and sailed aboard Tankers during the 20th Century.

In the early 1960's, if you had seen a massive
ship on the horizon you would naturally have
expected it to have been one of the hundreds
of great liners of the day. Then came the great
decline in sea travel as passengers took to the
skies. But, as the world grew more thirsty for
oil, a new breed of oceangoing leviathans had
to be created the super tankers, culminating
in today's gigantic 'Jahre Viking' at 564,763
tons deadweight.
But when did the story of seagoing tankers
begin and how did they evolve into the ocean
going titans of today. To find out we need to go
back to the year 1861 in Pennsylvania, USA,
when rock oil began to be extracted for
commercial use.

In this remarkable video, using only moving
images taken from rare archive film, we tell
the story of the Tanker and how it evolved
from frail sailing ships to the giants of today.
Not only do we see these wonderful old ships
but sail aboard them through mountainous
storms on their voyages around the world.
We're above and below decks and experience
just what it was like to have gone to sea on
these ships from the turn of the century through
to the present day.
Ships featured include: 'British Grenadier' and
'Viscount' (1921), 'British Fame' (1936),
'Seminole' and 'Esso Hull' (1936), 'Esso Glasgow'
(1946), 'Liparus' (Shell1948), 'British Adventure'
(1950), 'British Explorer' (1969), 'British Reliance'
(1975) and the world famous 'Manhattan'.

Thanks for watching