Esso Gettysburg HAER No. CA-354 Page 6 The service speed of American-built tankers in the 1950s tended to be higher than that of tankers built elsewhere in the world. This was the result of two conditions. First, wages for sailors on American ships were three to four times higher than those paid to sailors on foreign vessels, so American operators were under pressure to deliver more cargo in shorter spans of time to offset their labor costs. Second, the Maritime Administration could influence the specifications of vessels built with federal financial assistance in order to make the vessels more suitable for use in wartime. As a result, many American merchant ships were capable of speeds beyond their owners’ economic requirements. 12 The Esso Gettysburg, a typical product of the labor and regulatory environment of its day, was fast for a tanker and had excess engine power built in for national-defense purposes. During its sea trials, the ship made loaded full-speed runs averaging 19-3/4 knots “with power to spare.” On one 1957 voyage in ballast from New York to Venezue-la, the ship averaged 20 knots, while on other, loaded passages the same year it averaged 19-1/2 knots. 13 C. Operational History: The Esso Gettysburg’s sea trials took place February 25 and 26, 1957. As usual for ships built at Newport News Shipbuilding, the trials were held off the Virginia Capes. Some 250 techni-cians, observers, and yard and shipping-company executives were aboard. How the catering and sleeping arrange-ments were worked out to accommodate this number of men overnight on a ship with only about fifty beds is not recorded. 14 The ship’s first master was Capt. Jens G. Olsen, senior master in the Esso fleet. A veteran of both world wars, he ran away from home and became a deckboy aboard a Danish topsail schooner at the age of 14. When he retired a month after the Esso Gettysburg entered service, he had been at sea for 51 years and with Standard Oil for almost 38. He called his last command “the finest ship I ever had - and the best handling. She steers as easily as an auto-mobile.” 15 The Esso Gettysburg was built for use on the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Its first cargo was 10,888,836 gallons (259,258 barrels) of San Joaquin crude oil brought from Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, to the Bayway Refinery, Linden and Elizabeth, N.J., in March 1957.16 A survey of shipping reports in the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun shows the ship in regular --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Although the government paid the construction costs of national-defense modifications, it did not bear the expen-se of greater fuel consumption and reduced cargo capacity that such modifications could impose on carriers over the long term. It also prohibited carriers from using their vessels’ reserve power except in emergencies. Allen R. Fer-guson, et al., The Economic Value of the United States Merchant Marine (Evanston, Ill.: Transportation Center at Northwestern University, 1961), 57, 149; Spear, “Tankers,” 264. 13 Most national-defense modifications were an outcome of the Maritime Administration’s constructiondifferential subsidy program. Esso Shipping did not receive these subsidies, but it negotiated payment for militarily useful mo-difications as an adjunct to its trade-in allowance. The company’s own magazine described the Esso Gettysburg’s emergency power as “considerably in excess of normal commercial requirements.” Annual Report of the...Maritime Administration, 1955, 5; “Esso Gettysburg,” 3, 5; “Large oil tanker passes sea trials,” 39. 14 “Large oil tanker passes sea trials,” 39. 15 “Esso master ends 51 years on ships,” New York Times, Apr. 12, 1957, 50; quote from “Esso Gettysburg,” 3. 16 “Esso Gettysburg,” 3.

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