''Methane Pioneer'' was the first oceangoing liquified natural gas tanker in the world. Built in 1945 as a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

named ''Marline Hitch'', the vessel was renamed ''Don Aurelio'' and ''Nomarti'' before being rebuilt in 1958 for the purpose of transporting

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

and operated between 1959 and 1972. The ship was later renamed ''Aristotle''.

Service history

Early history

''Methane Pioneer'' was built as yard number 344 by Walter Butler Shipbuilders in Duluth, Minnesota as a Type C1-M-AV1 cargo ship for the United States Maritime Commission. She was delivered as ''Marline Hitch'' in July 1945. As World War II came to an end shortly after it was delivered, ''Marline Hitch'' was sold privately under the name ''Don Aurelio'' in 1946. In 1951 the ship was renamed ''Normarti''.

As ''Methane Pioneer''

In 1958 ''Normarti'', then owned by the Norgulf Shipping Line, was converted into a tanker at the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

and was delivered in October 1958, renamed ''Methane Pioneer''. The project was funded by the British Gas Council and was operated by a joint venture company called Constock International Methane (CIM). CIM was formed as a partnership between

Conoco Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curr ...

and

Union Stock Yards The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a central ...

, and renamed Conch International Methane when Shell joined in 1959. She had a capacity of 32,000 barrels of LNG. ''Methane Pioneer'' was allocated the Call sign GBHU. ''Methane Pioneer''s maiden voyage was from Constock's LNG production facility on the Calcasieu River in Louisiana. Carrying the world's first ocean cargo of LNG, it left port on 25 January 1959 and reached its destination at Canvey Island in England on 20 February, taking 27 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. ''Methane Pioneer'' was later renamed ''Aristotle'' and operated by Stephenson Clarke Shipping, making 30 voyages between 1959 and 1972, when it was withdrawn from service and converted into a storage barge for LNG. She was scrapped in 1972.

References

{{Type C1-M ships Type C1-M ships 1945 ships Energy history of the United Kingdom Natural gas industry in the United Kingdom Ships built in Duluth, Minnesota World War II merchant ships of the United States Merchant ships of the United States Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Tankers of the United Kingdom LNG tankers