3-2003

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" WHITE ROSE" AHOY ! Monthly Feature         March 2003 ...
Efficient transportation of crude oil and finished petroleum products presents a
massive and on-going challenge for the oil industry. While several solutions have
been achieved, this months "Feature" will concentrate only on oil tankers / ships.
    .....
             Stay tuned for future "Features" on other means of transportation . ....    In 1906 the struggling Canadian Oil Company purchased an oil tanker which
was christened the "W.S. Calvert" . Named after the company president and
local Member of Parliament, it could carry 7,000 barrels of crude oil, from
Toledo, Ohio to Froomfield, Ontario , on the St. Clair River. It was pumped
ashore into tanks, dug into the heavy clay on the banks of the river. The oil was
then carried via a two-inch pipeline to the Petrolia refinery 16 miles away.
   Two years later, in 1908, the american National Refining Company acquired
controlling interest in Canadian Oil Company . Two name changes occurred.
First, the new company name became Canadian Oil Companies Limited and
the "W.S. Calvert" was renamed the "En-Ar-Co", a slang, loosely based on
the initials of the new parent company.
   Volume 1, # 6 of "En-ar-co Booster", dated August 1925, states that during
the 1924 shipping season, the "En-Ar-Co" made 23 round trips between Toledo
and Froomfield with cargos totaling 156,172 barrels of oil. This publication
referred to the tanker as the "tank-barge En-Ar-Co".
   In 1934 the "En-Ar-Co was scrapped . I understand that oil was then trans-
ported by the Sarnia - Toledo Barge Company. I do not know if this was a
subsidiary company or an outside contractor.
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   Jump ahead to one hot summer day in 1944 when the "M.V. (Motor Vessel
to the uninitiated) Eglinton Park" first hit the water at a Sorel, Quebec, ship-
yard. That was the original name of the smart new twin screw, diesel engine
tanker which had been built for the Park Steamship Company. Designed prim-
arily for coastal trade , she became one of a convoy carrying precious aviation
gasoline from Montreal to Labrador during the hectic final days of World War
Two. Her first real ocean-going assignment was carrying a cargo of aviation
gasoline from Curacao in the Caribbean to West Africa for the British govern-
ment, returning with her tanks full of palm oil from Lagos, Nigeria. Further
voyages to Mexico and Cuba followed.
   In 1945 , while engaged in coastal trade , something significant occurred to
change the course of the proud vessels career. With the establishment of marine
terminals at various Great Lakes ports, the Canadian Oil Companies needed
water-borne transport to link each of these terminals to the company refinery.
The purchase of the "Eglinton Park (and renaming it the "John Irwin" in honor
of the Canadian Oil president at the time) was a natural solution to the problem.
   But that didn't put an end to the ship's deep sea voyaging. At the beginning of
1946, before navigation opened on the Great Lakes, the "John Irwin", with the
Canadian Oil name and colours gleaming brightly on hull and funnel, arrived in
Montreal harbor at the end of a record-breaking trip for a ship of her tonnage.
The tanker , after carrying a cargo of fuel oil from the trim harbor of Curacao
in the Netherlands West Indies to the jungle-bound African Gold Coast, took on
3,200 tons of palm oil in familiar Nigerian waters. Skies were clear and the sea
calm as the "John Irwin" cleared the African coast on a 5,060 mile haul to
Montreal. Although the vessel put into the Canary Islands for refueling, she made
the home port in 29 days --- a very respectable achievement in any sea-going log.
   During the navigation season on the Great Lakes (normally April 1st to about
December 15th) she carried crude oil ( delivered from the Redwater, Alberta oil -
fields via the Interprovincial Pipeline ) from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia as
well as gasoline and fuel oils from the Sarnia refinery to marine terminals at
Cobourg, Windsor, Owen Sound, Parry Sound, Little Current and Fort William.
During the winter the vessel, which now had Sarnia as its port of registry , was
berthed at that port while intensive clean-up and paint-up activity went on in
order to ensure her being shipshape for the following season on the Great Lakes.
   In 1956 the "John Irwin" was renamed the M.V."White Rose" , a more fitting
designation for a lady.
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M.V. "White Rose" Facts and Specifications:
      Capacity - 945,000 Imperial gals. ( 27,000 barrels)
      Draws     18 feet, 7 inches of water loaded
      Speed -   10 1/2 knots
      Crew -    ranged from 22 to 28 man at different times over the years,
                    including one woman beginning in 1958
      Builder - Marine Industries , Sorel, Quebec
      Captain - Captain John A MacIntyre, from the day she was first
                      commissioned as M.V. Eglinton Park , throughout the
                     "M.V. John Irwin" era and into the M.V. "White Rose" years.
      Sailed -    37,155 miles during 1955
      Designed - to the maximum size which could pass through the St. Lawrence
                       River canals with only inches to spare in both length and beam.
      Equipment - Both short and long range radar for safe navigation . Able to
                        safely navigate during darkness and fog without fear of collision.
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     In 1961 a new tanker was commissioned to supplement the services of the
M.V. "White Rose" . Christened M.V. "W. Harold Rea", ( in honor of then
president of the company) she was built to Canadian Oil Companies specifica-
tions with a capacity of 51,000 barrels (almost twice that of M.V."White Rose")
in 10 separate cargo tanks, 600 tons each. She was designed to carry 5 different
White Rose products; 2 grades of gasoline, domestic, diesel and stove oils with-
out fear of intermixing.
    Captain J.A. MacIntyre assumed skipper duties, while back aboard the
M.V."White Rose" , first mate Don Kinnear succeeded him as Captain.
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Commemorative Tape Measure given out at the christening ceremonies at Collingwood in 1962.
M.V. "W. Harold Rea" Facts and Specifications:

Capacity - 51,000 barrels , 6,000 tons
Draws     - 21 feet 9 1/2 inches
Speed     - 12 3/4 knots ( approx. 15 MPH)
Length   - 355 feet 6 inches
Width    - 46 feet
Power    - 2 X 1600 diesel engines = 3200 B.H.P.
Crew     - 22 man ( same as M/V "White Rose" in 1962)
Cost      - $2,500,000
Keel laid -   January 11 , 1962
Christened - August 25 , 1962
Builder - Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd., Collingwood, Ont.
Colours - shining white, yellow and red

In late 1962 Shell Oil of Canada purchased Canadian Oil Companies Limited.
In 1970 M.V. "W.Harold Rea" was renamed M.V. "Eastern Shell".
In 1991 she was sold and renamed M.V. "Lecedre",
In 1993 she was sold to Panama and again renamed the M.V. "Colon Trader"

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...... Booklet commemorating the launch of M.V. "W.Harold Rea" August 25, 1962

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