At first the shipbuilders had nothing to guide them in the shape of practical experience of bulk oil carriers, but, from small things, a great ocean trade in bulk petroleum products soon grew. It is interesting to note the enterprise which English shipbuilders displayed in this new method of handling petroleum for ocean transport, for during at least two decades the vast bulk of construction of oil carriers took place in English shipbuilding yards. The opening of the Far Eastern fields of production led to the construction of a large number of oil tankers--each of increasing size--for Messrs. M. Samuel and Company, and these were named after various shells. The fleet of “Shell” tankers to-day ranks as one of the finest in the world, and forms the connecting link between the prolific oil-producing properties of the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, Ltd., in the Far East, and the demand for petroleum products in this and other countries, the vessels themselves being owned by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, Ltd., one of the influential owning interests in the wide ramifications of the “Shell” Company. For several years the oil tanker _Narragansett_, owned by the Anglo-American Oil Company, Ltd. (London), held claim to being the largest bulk oil carrier in the world, for the good ship had a capacity of nearly 11,000 tons of products. The size of this vessel may be judged from the fact that she had a length between perpendiculars of over 510 feet, with a 63 feet beam, while her moulded depth was 42 feet. This vessel, which marked a distinct step forward in oil tanker construction, belonged to Lloyd’s A1 three-deck class. The Anglo-American Oil Company has shown its belief in oil fuel for ocean power purposes by contracting for internal combustion-engined tankers, and the first of this class was launched in November, 1919. [Illustration: ONE OF THE MAMMOTH TANKERS OF THE EAGLE OIL COMPANY’S FLEET]