Source : Shipyard Bulletin. Esso Chester, before her launch. Esso Chester is sliding down Shipway Nine on August 8, 1952. Mrs. Stanley C. Hope, the Sponsor, is shown christening the ship in insert. THE Esso Chester, second super-tanker of six being built to the order oif the Esso Shipping Cnompany, went down Shipway Nine on August 8, 1951 in a drenching midsummer rain. The launching, which was recorded by numerous cameramen representing newsreels, television, and wire services, was originally scheduled for I2:45 P.M. The unsettled weather prevailing during the morning, however, delayed the planes carrying the launching party, and their late arrival necessitated a fifteen-minute postponement. Delay in launching, of more than a minute or two, is unusual in the Yard. The longest delay in recent years was on the occasion of the launching of the second Hornet (Hull 395) during the war when the vessel was forty-flive minutes late sliding into the James. The Esso Chester represents a milestone in the Company's history by being designated Hull 500. Sixty-one years separate the launching of Hull One from Hull 500 and during all that period Hull One, Dorotlly, has operated steadily to attest the soundness of her structure. The Esso Chester was christenerl  Mrs. Stanley C. Hope, wife of the president of the Esso Standard Oil Company. Mrs. Hope smashed the christening bottle across an eighteen-inch steel angle welded to the bow for the purpose of presenting a sharp edge. This launching innovation insures that the sponsor will break the bottle with the first blow. Mrs. George V. Armistead, Jr., of Madison, Connecticut, attended Mrs. Hope as Matron of Honor. Accompanying Mr. and Mrs. Hope in the launching party were the following: M. C. Gamble, President of Esso Shipping Company; William Naden, a director of Standard; E. L. Stewart, Esso Shipping Company; W. Z. Gardner,. Esso Shipping Company; A. Warner Melvin also of Essn Shipping; E. T.  Lemonn, Division Managecr, Esso Standard: F. H. Bedford, Jr., a director of the Standard of New Jersey; Henry H. Hewitson, director of Esso Standard, and Mrs. Hewitson; John R. Suman, Standard Oil director. and Mrs. Suman; Mr. and Mrs.John Baker. Mlr. and Mrs. Robert Kempton. Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher Lane. Mr. and Mrs. William F. Walsh, Mrs. Walter Hart, William Skinner, Lt. Comdr. and Mrs. Herbert May, Jr., Mary Bland Armistead. and Lt. and Mrs. E. T. Lemon. Jr. Ms. George C. Armistead, Jr., Matron of Honor, Mrs. Stanley C. Hope, Sponsor, J. B. Woodward, Jr., president of the Yard, and M. G. Gamble, President of Esso Shipping Company, are shown on the launching stand shortly before the christening of the Esso Chester. Mrs. J. B. Woodward, Jr., Stanley C. Hope, President of the Esso Standard Oil Company, and Mrs. Hope, are shown shortly before the christening of the Esso Chester.