CREATING A NEW INDUSTRY - LEGACY OF THE WORLD’S FIRST OIL TANKER
Sven Alexander Almqvist, the great-grandfather of our Founder Erik Almqvist, designed and built the world’s first oil tanker in 1878 together with Ludvig Nobel, the older brother of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize.
The first drawings of an oil tanker can be seen above, and the Zoroaster had its maiden voyage in 1878 from Baku in present day Azerbaijan out into the Caspian Sea. To get there it had to go through the river systems of Russia. As the vessel was to large for the narrowest parts of the rivers, the aft and the stern went through the rivers with the mid-section in pieces, then all pieces were reassembled for its first sea voyage.
Prior to this invention experiments to put oil in the bulk of a ship had rendered the ships unstable, hence all oil had to be transported in barrels (for which we say ‘barrels of oil’ to this day).
The four first oil tankers of the world were named after world religions: the Zoroaster, after Zoroastrianism, the Buddha, the Mohamed, and the Sokrat after Greek philosopher Socrates. The idea was that the invention was a gift to all of mankind, not just one religion or country, and the vessel become one of the most copied in maritime history.
To this day, this breakthrough achievement and its altruism fills us with hope and pride, and has inspired us to assist and achieve several other world-firsts (world first internet bank, world’s first scientific calculation of broadband speed upgrade on the economy…). In short, if it can be thought, it can be done. See further our cases (“Sense Stories”).