Eagle Oil and Shipping Company was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

merchant shipping company that operated oil tankers between the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

and the UK.

Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, (15 July 1856 – 1 May 1927), known as Sir Weetman Pearson, Bt between 1894 and 1910, and as Lord Cowdray between 1910 and 1917, was a British engineer, oil industrialist, benefactor and Lib ...

founded it as the Eagle Oil Transport Company in 1912 and sold it to

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

in 1919. It was renamed Eagle Oil and Shipping Company in about 1930, and remained a separate company within the Royal Dutch Shell group until it was absorbed in 1959. House flag of Eagle Oil Shipping Co

Pearson oil interests in Mexico

Sir Weetman Pearson, Bart. (ennobled as

Viscount Cowdray Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the industrialist Weetman Pearson, 1st Baron Cowdray, head of the Pearson conglomerate. He had already been creat ...

in 1910) headed a successful civil engineering contractor, S. Pearson and Sons, that had contracts in Mexico from 1889. He initiated oil prospecting there in 1901 and founded the

Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company Compañía Mexicana de Petróleo El Águila SA, (''El Águila'' for short, called in English the Mexican Eagle Oil Company or Mexican Eagle Petroleum Corporation, was a Mexican oil company in the 20th century. The company, established in 1909, pro ...

in 1909, which had its first major oil strike in 1910 (near

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...

on the

coast). Before Pearson struck oil, he started to order oil tankers to carry the oil that he hoped to produce.

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...

on the River Tyne launched ''San Cristobal'' (2,041 tons) in 1906 and

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...

, also on Tyneside, launched ''San Antonio'' (5,251 tons) in 1909. Pearson also bought ''James Brand'' (3,907 tons), which had been built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1893, and renamed her ''San Bernardo''.

Eagle Oil Transport Company

In 1912 Pearson founded the Eagle Oil Transport Company in the UK to take over his ships and carry Mexican Eagle's products. He also founded the Anglo-Mexican Petroleum Company in the UK to sell Mexican Eagle's products outside Mexico. Eagle Oil Transport immediately ordered 20 modern steam tankers at a cost of £3 million. The company gave all the ships the Spanish names of Christian saints, most of them ending in ''"o"''. Swan Hunter launched (6,238 tons) and (6,225 tons) in 1912, (11,929 tons) ''San Silvestre'' (6,223 tons), ''San Tirso'' (6,236 tons) and ''San Gregorio'' (12,093 tons) in 1913 and ''San Lorenzo'' (12,097 tons) in 1914.

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as "Palmers", was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, County Durham, in north-eastern England, and also had operations in Hebburn and Willingto ...

, also on the Tyne, launched (10,157 tons) and ''San Valerio'' (6,493 tons) in 1913 and (12,286 tons) in 1914.

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wea ...

launched ''San Jeronimo'' (12,398 tons), ''San Nazario'' (12,029 tons) and ''San Zeferino'' (6,433 tons) in 1914. Armstrong Whitworth launched ''San Ricardo'' (6,465 tons) and (6,458 tons) in 1913, (6,458 tons), ''San Isidoro'' (9,718 tons) and (9,717 tons) in 1914 and ''San Patricio'' (12,092 tons) in 1915. Eagle Oil Transport suffered significant war losses in the First World War. On 3 August 1914 ''San Wilfrido'' struck a mine and sank off Cuxhaven in the North Sea, making her the first merchant ship sunk in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. German submarines torpedoed and sank ''San Hilario'' in April 1917 and ''San Urbano'' and ''San Onofre'' in May 1917, all in the North Atlantic to the west of Ireland. In 1915 the company had bought a dry cargo steamship, ''Drumlanrig'', which was renamed . In December 1917 the German submarine torpedoed and sank ''Santa Amalia'' in the North Atlantic to the west of Islay, with the loss of 43 officers and crew. ''San Zeferino'' was damaged by enemy action during the war. Eagle Oil Transport had at least one motor tanker by the end of the War; (1,137 tons), which had been launched in 1918 by

Short Brothers of Sunderland Short Brothers Limited was a British shipbuilding company formed in 1850 and based at Pallion, Sunderland since 1869. The company closed in 1964 when it failed to invest to build bigger ships. 19th century In 1850 George Short founded a shipya ...

. The company continued to buy new steam tankers until at least 1928, when J.L. Thompson and Sons launched ''San Casto'' (2,446 tons) on the River Wear and Armstrong Whitworth launched ''San Claudio'' (2,712 tons). In 1919 Viscount Cowdray sold his group of oil companies to

. Eagle Oil Transport renewed and expanded its fleet, and some of the new ships were very large by the standards of the day. Armstrong Whitworth launched (13,056 tons) in 1919, ''San Felix'' (13,037 tons) in 1921 and (13,013 tons) in 1922. Swan Hunter launched (12,842 tons) in 1919 and Palmers launched ''San Gaspar'' (12,910 tons) in 1921 and (12,915 tons) in 1922. Eagle Oil also bought new medium-sized tankers. Swan Hunter built the War Standard Type Z tanker ''War Kookri'' (5,582 tons) for the UK Shipping Controller, but when she was launched in 1919 Cowdray bought her and renamed her ''San Zotico''. Cowdray then turned to the US for new ships of this size. Standard Shipbuilding Company of

Shooters Island Shooters Island is a uninhabited island at the southern end of Newark Bay, off the North Shore of Staten Island in New York City. The boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey runs through the island, with a small portion on the ...

, New York launched ''San Teodoro'' (6,137 tons), (5,995 tons) and ''San Ubaldo'' (5,999 tons) in 1921. After 1921 Cowdray reverted to UK shipyards. Armstrong Whitworth launched ''San Roberto'' (5,890 tons) and ''San Rosendo'' (5,891 tons) in 1922, ''San Quirino'' (5,843 tons) in 1923 and ''San Salvador'' (5,805 tons) in 1924. In 1927 ''San Fraterno'' was wrecked on a rock at Bonet Island in the Strait of Magellan and in 1929 ''San Dunstano'' was wrecked at the entrance to Tampico harbour. In about 1930 the Eagle Oil Transport Company was renamed the Eagle Oil and Shipping Company. In about 1935 the company started adding a new generation of motor tankers including ''San Adolfo'' (7,365 tons) launched by the Furness Shipbuilding Company on the River Tees, (7,397 tons) launched by

Lithgows Lithgows Limited is a family-owned Scottish company that had a long involvement in shipbuilding, based in Kingston, Port Glasgow, on the River Clyde in Scotland. It has a continued involvement in marine resources. History Founding The Company ...

on the River Clyde, (7,385 tons) launched by Swan Hunter, ''San Amado'' (7,316 tons) launched by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company on the Clyde, ''San Ambrosio'' (7,410 tons) launched by

Hawthorn Leslie and Company R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...

on the Tyne and (7,419 tons) launched by

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland. New additions continued until 1939, when Lithgows launched ''San Eliseo'' (8,042 tons), Harland and Wolff launched (8,071 tons) and Furness Shipbuilding launched (8,078 tons). Eagle Oil and Shipping was registered in the United Kingdom. Therefore, after 1938 although the Mexican government had nationalised Mexican Eagle Petroleum, Eagle Oil and Shipping remained a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. After 1938 the fleet continued to carry oil from the

to the UK. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the company played an important role in supplying petroleum and petroleum products to the United Kingdom. Oil tankers were a particular target in Germany's economic warfare against the Allies. Enemy action sank 17 Eagle Oil ships, killing at least 206 officers, men and DEMS gunners. (8,018 tons) was launched by Lithgows on the Clyde in 1937. On 2 December 1939 she struck a mine off the Tongue Lightship in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

and sank with the loss of six men. On 4 May 1940 ''San Tiburcio'' struck a mine and sank in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

off the Moray Firth. (8,045 tons) and (7,982 tons) were sister ships launched by Blythswood at Scotstoun in 1936. ''San Casimiro'' was captured off

Cape Race Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mean ...

, Newfoundland by the German battleship '' Gneisenau'' on 15 March 1941 and scuttled off the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

five days later. ''San Conrado'' was bombed and sunk by enemy aircraft off

The Smalls The Smalls are a Canadian hard rock/metal band formed in 1989 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They were influenced by jazz, hardcore punk, speed metal and country music. They were one of the most prominent Alberta bands in the second wave of per ...

on the coast of west

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 1 April 1941. MT SAN DEMETRIO

(8,073 tons), which Blythswood had launched at Port Glasgow in 1938, became famous for surviving a naval bombardment by the German

heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...

'' Admiral Scheer'' in 1940. ''San Demetrio''s crew succeeded in extinguishing the resultant fire and bringing the ship and her cargo of aviation spirit to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. ''San Demetrio'' was repaired and returned to service, but the torpedoed and sank her in the western Atlantic off

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on 17 March 1942 with the loss of 19 lives. On 2 October 1941 torpedoed and sank ''San Florentino'' north of the Azores with the loss of 22 lives. On 31 January 1942 ''U-107'' torpedoed and sank ''San Arcadio'' north of Bermuda with the loss of 41 lives. On 31 March 1942 torpedoed and sank ''San Gerardo'' off the eastern coast of the US with the loss of 51 lives. On 9 April 1942 torpedoed and sank (8,072 tons) in the North Atlantic off Cape Hatteras, USA with the loss of 28 lives. On 17 May 1942 torpedoed and sank ''San Demetrio''s sister ship in the eastern Caribbean southwest of Grenada with the loss of 52 lives. On 27 August 1942 torpedoed and sank ''San Fabian'' between

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

in the Caribbean with the loss of 26 lives. StateLibQld 1 172031 San Ernesco (ship)

In 1942 the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport ...

placed the

Empire ships An Empire ship is a merchant ship that was given a name beginning with "Empire" in the service of the Government of the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Most were used by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which owned them and co ...

, and under Eagle Oil and Shipping's management. In 1943 two U-boats torpedoed and sank ''Empire Norseman'' (9,811 tons) in the Atlantic south of the Azores. After the Second World War the company bought ''Empire Airman'' and ''Empire Cobbett'' from the ministry, renamed them ''San Wenceslao'' and ''San Wilfrido'' respectively and kept them in service until 1959. During the war Eagle Oil and Shipping bought several new tankers to replace war losses. Harland and Wolff launched ''San Veronico'' (8,198 tons) and ''San Vulframo'' (8,167 tons) in 1942 and ''San Vito'' (8,163 tons) in 1943. Hawthorn Leslie launched ''San Venancio'' (8,152 tons) in 1942 and ''San Velino'' (8,210 tons) in 1944. After the War, Eagle Oil bought two US-built

T2 tanker The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of ...

s: ''Bryce Canyon'' in 1948 and ''Laurel Hill'' in 1949. The company renamed them ''San Leonardo'' and ''San Leopoldo'' respectively and kept them in service until 1961. Between 1950 and 1960 Eagle Oil acquired at least 16 new tankers. Two of the earliest were a second ''San Salvador'' (10,802 tons) and a second ''San Silvestre'' (10,953 tons), both launched by Furness Shipbuilding in 1950. Later ships included (12,278 tons) and ''San Fortunato'' (12,257 tons), both launched in 1956 by Cammell Laird on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

. In April 1958 a

Douglas B-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...

bomber aircraft, painted black and with no markings, bombed and sank ''San Flaviano'' in

Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated ...

Harbour,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, killing two of her crew. The aircraft, its bombs and its pilot, William H. Beale, were sent by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

as part of US covert support for the

Permesta Permesta was a rebel movement in Indonesia, its name based on the Universal Struggle Charter (or ''Piagam Perjuangan Semesta'') that was declared on 2 March 1957 by civil and military leaders in East Indonesia. Initially the center of the movem ...

rebellion in

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

. UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Foreign Secretary

Selwyn Lloyd John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd, (28 July 1904 – 18 May 1978) was a British politician. Born and raised in Cheshire, he was an active Liberal as a young man in the 1920s. In the following decade, he practised as a barrister and ...

supported the US policy to supply

and on 6 May 1958, more than a week after the CIA sank ''San Flaviano'', Lloyd secretly told US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that this was still his position. On 18 May, Indonesian forces shot down a different Permesta B-26 and captured its CIA pilot, Allen Pope. Nevertheless, in June 1958 both Indonesia and the UK publicly claimed that the aircraft had been flown by Indonesian rebels, concealing the CIA involvement of which both governments were well aware. The CIA pilots had orders to target commercial shipping in order to frighten foreign merchant ships away from Indonesian waters, thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and destabilising the Indonesian government of President Sukarno. In this they were at least partly successful: Royal Dutch Shell suspended its tanker service to Balikpapan and evacuated shore-based wives and families to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Several new ships delivered to Eagle Oil in the later 1950s were in the order of 18,000 to 19,500 tons. One of the last new ships to be delivered for the fleet was also one of the largest; the second (34,750 tons), launched by Furness Shipbuilding in 1960. By then Royal Dutch Shell had absorbed Eagle Oil and Shipping, which ceased to be a separate member of the group in 1959.

Fleet List

* San Dunstano (1912-29). 6,220 tonnes, 3,962n, 420' 2" x 54' 6". Triple expansion steam engines by the shipbuilders. Completed by

& Wigham Richardson Ltd.,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in July 1912. Sank off

after being in a collision with a submerged object while inward bound on 13th October 1929. * San Eduardo (1912-34). 6,225 tonnes, 3959n, 420' 3" x 54' 7". Triple expansion steam engines by the shipbuilders Completed by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Newcastle in December 1912 Torpedoed off Stornoway but it was quickly towed in and repaired for service on 10th March 1917 Arrived at Port Glasgow to be scrapped by Smith & Houston Ltd in 1934. * San Fraterno (1913-27). 9,587 tonnes, 6053n. 527' 4" x 66' 8". Quadruple expansion steam engines by the Wallsend Slipway Co. Ltd. Completed by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Newcastle in April 1913. Mined in the Firth of Forth and beached on the 11th February 1917, later to be repaired and returned to service. Sank in the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pas ...

on 29th July 1927 after striking a rock off of Carlos Island while on passage from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

to San Pedro. * San Ricardo (1913-39). 6465 tonnes, 3927n, 420' 1" x 54' 8". Quadruple exapansion steam engines by the Wallsend Slipway Co. Ltd.. Completed by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle in June 1913. Seized by the

Mexican Government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

in 1939 and transferred to Petroleos Mexicanos S.A., where it was renamed to "18 de Marzo". Scrapping commenced in May 1964 in Astilleros de Veracruz,

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

Notes

Sources

* * * *

External links

* {{PM20, FID=co/068666, TEXT=Documents and clippings about, NAME= British companies established in 1912 Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom Former Shell plc subsidiaries Joint ventures Transport companies established in 1912 Transport companies disestablished in 1959 1912 establishments in England 1919 mergers and acquisitions British companies disestablished in 1959