Transporting oil by sea goes probably back to Antiquity but it is only at the end of the XVIIth century that one finds regulations edicted by Peter the Great setting rules for barges sailing on the Volga. It is only in the second half of the XIXth century with the development of American oil wells that transport of oil by sea really took off.

Initially oil was transported in barrels, and it is only after much research and many efforts that it was loaded in tanks on board cargoes with sails so as to avoid the dangerous proximity of the hot boilers.

The first oil tanker with a steam engine was launched in 1872, but it is only in 1886 that the first of the really modern tankers, with its machines and boilers set aft, was launched.

The hull of a tanker contains a number of large reservoirs divided by safety features, and linked together by a complex network of pipes, equipped with high output pumps for unloading the cargo.

The size of tankers has increased dramatically over the last thirty years. At the time 12 000 tons was considered a big ship. In 1960 a 104 000 ton tanker was built in Japan and much larger tankers have been built since. Average sizes remain between 50 000 and 100 000 tons.

The Esso Parentis, named after the first oil field developed in France was launched in 1958 at the Chantiers de L’Atlantique yard in St.Nazaire.

Specifications :

Model building : Simple

Scale of drawing : 1/ 200th,
one plan, two photographs, one notice (french).