Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company – several ships built by Hong Kong & Whampoa Dockyard

Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company Logo Wikipedia

The ASPC flag

HF: The 1923 HK Telegraph advert shown below shows the Oil Tank Steamer Paludina one of several ships built by the Hongkong & Whampoa Dockyard for the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company. The company operated from about 1898 to 1955 when Shell acquired the company’s assets, essentially bringing its fleet of ships in-house.

I don’t know whether Anglo-Saxon operated a HK office though given its size it seems likely to have done so.

The following general company information comes from the UK’s excellent Grace’s Guides:

c.1898 The company became responsible for the ships of Shell Transport and Trading[1]

1907 Continued to be responsible for the trade in oil by-products when the Dutch Petroleum Company was established to take over the petroleum business of the Dutch state authorities and the Shell company[2]

1908 Shell Transport and Trading had placed all of its assets in Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co and Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij which also held all of the assets of Royal Dutch Shell[3]

The company owned and ran the oil transport and storage activities of the Shell group of companies.

1920 With Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co and a group of individual investors, the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co bought the Chepstow shipyards[4]; they formed Monmouth Shipbuilding Co to acquire the yards.

1923 Ordered a large, shallow draft river steamer for use in China, from Yarrow and Co[5]

HK Telegraph 17th August 1923

1925 Baldwins, in conjunction with Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, built a new tinplate works at Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea[6]

1926 Placed order with Harland and Wolff for 4 vessels[7]

1934 Ordered 12,000 t tank motor-ship from Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, the 18th that yard had built for the company[8]. Harland and Wolff also constructed a motor tanker for the company[9]

1934 Elba Tin Plate Co, jointly owned with Baldwins, had been fully occupied[10]

1938 Cammell, Laird and Co built a tanker for the company[11]

Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company Ship Olna 1946 Grace's Guides

The Olna 1946 Courtesy: Grace’s Guides

1951 Experimented with use of a gas-turbine propulsion unit when one of the 4 diesel engines in the tanker Auris was replaced by a gas turbine[12]

Anglo Saxon Petroleum Compay Ship Velutina 1951 Grace's Guides

Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company Ship Velutina 1951 Courtesy: Grace’s Guides

1955 Shell acquired the assets of Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co, essentially bringing its fleet of ships in-house[13]

Sources of Information

  1. The Times, Jan 15, 1908
  2. The Times, Aug 05, 1907
  3. The Times, Jul 01, 1908
  4. The Times, Feb 05, 1920
  5. The Times, Nov 08, 1923
  6. The Times, Dec 19, 1925
  7. The Times, Apr 22, 1926
  8. The Times, Mar 21, 1934
  9. The Times, May 26, 1934
  10. The Times, Mar 31, 1934
  11. The Times, Mar 30, 1938
  12. The Times, November 10, 2003
  13. The Times, November 10, 2003

This article was first posted on 19th April 2017.

Source: Anglo Saxon Petroleum – Grace’s Guides

See:

  1. Grace’s Guides – Grace’s Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 119,216 pages of information and 173,136 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Related Indhhk articles:

  1. Shell Oil tankers built by Hong Kong & Whampoa Docks

2 Comments

  • Michael Anderson

    Is there a way of looking through the records for Anglo saxon petroleum to identify which vessel rescued by grandfather during WW2

    • Hello Michael

      I do not know of a list recording all the ships used by Anglo Saxon Petroleum. Are you able to provide further information
      about your grandfather or the ship that rescued him? Or regarding the circumstances of his rescue?

      Best wishes
      Hugh Farmer

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