Lake tankers were small (up to 5,000 ton) specially designed shallow-draft tanker ships that carried the crude oil, pumped from beneath Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, to the three off-shore refineries located on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao.
Background The crude obtained from Lake Maracaibo was processed at refineries located at Aruba and Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies. Aruba had two refineries, Lago Oil and Transport Company, owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey and Eagle Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. There was also a Royal Dutch Shell refinery on the island of Curaçao. The Lago refinery housed the officers and their families in Lago Colony, a community owned by the company which housed all their foreign staff employees.
All three refineries depended on a fleet of "Lake Tankers" to supply the crude to be refined, carried from Lake Maracaibo through the shallow cannel between it and the Caribbean Sea. This shallow passage prevented larger oceanic tanker ships from entering the lake, and thus the need for the smaller Lake tanker.
Description
The Lake Tanker was a small vessel in comparison with the larger ocean-going oil tankers; it had a trunk deck hull with a very shallow draft and a flat bottom, which allowed the ship to maneuver over the ever shifting sand bars that blocked the channel going into Lake Maracaibo.
History
The first Lake Tankers (SS Invercorrie, SS Inverampton,Inverampton is also mentioned as Inverhampton in some sources. and SS Francunion) were built in England around 1923, entering service in 1924. These were followed in 1926 by 4 ships of the Invercaibo class, significantly larger than the former. Subsequent ships remained small until after World War II when, with the dredging of the channel to Lake Maracaibo, the lake tankers became larger.
This collection of small tankers was known as the "Lake fleet" or the "Mosquito fleet", which peaked at more than 60 ships, either owned or chartered. This type of tanker was no longer needed after the channel from Lake Maracaibo to the sea was finally dredged and deepened to allow ocean-going tankers to enter the lake, and pipelines from the lake were constructed to deep water ports in the Paraguana Peninsula.
The last Lake Tanker, SS Trujillo, was retired from service in December 1954 and sailed to Jacksonville, Florida, where it joined another 12 decommissioned Lake tankers that had been active as of January 1954.
Lake fleet
Some tankers that have been part of the "Lake fleet" are listed below.
Lago Oil fleet
SS Invercorrie SS Inverampton SS Francunion SS Oranjestad SS Ambrosio SS BachaqueroIn 1940 Bachaquero was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to a Maracaibo-class LST. She was decommissioned in 1945. SS Invercaibo SS Hooiberg SS Invergoil SS Punta Gorda SS San Carlos SS Tia Juana SS Yamanota SS Pedernales SS Andino SS Quiriquire SS MisoaIn 1940 Misoa was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to a Maracaibo-class LST. She was decommissioned in 1945. SS Cumarebo SS Maracay SS Boscan SS Caripito SS Guarico SS Temblador SS Amacuro SS Mara SS Trujillo
Shell Oil fleet
SS Adela SS Alicia SS Asiento SS Berta SS Brigida SS Carlota SS Casandra SS Chepita SS Conchita SS Dolium SS Elena SS Felipa SS Frasca SS Gadinia SS Galeomma SS Ganesella SS Gari SS Gastrana SS Gaza SS Gemma SS Gena SS Genota SS Geomitra SS Glebula SS Glessula SS Gomphina SS Gouldia SS Gyrotoma SS Josefina SS Juanita SS Juliana SS Julieta SS Justina SS Laura SS Leona SS Leonor SS Leticia SS Lidia SS Linda SS Liria SS Liseta SS Lucia SS Lucita SS Lucrecia SS Luisa SS Manuela SS Mariana SS Mariquita SS Marsella SS Martica SS Martina SS Maruja SS Matilde SS Maximina SS Rafaela SS Ramona SS Rebeca SS Renata SS Rita SS Rodas SS Rosa SS Rosalia SS Rosaura SS Rufina Shell Aramare Shell Caricuao Shell Charaima Shell Dezoito Shell Manaure Shell Mara Shell Murachi Shell Naiguata Shell Plata SS Shellphalte SS Shellspra SS Spramex SS Susana
British American Oil fleet (see British-American Oil)
B/A Peerless B/A Canada
Footnotes
References
External links A story about Lago's Lake Tankers History of Lago Oil Shipping Co., Ltd. Lago Colony & Lago Refinery with links to Lake Tanker photos Helder Line website, List of Shell Lake Tankers (accessed 2015-02-15) Auke Visser's website, A story about Lago Oil tankers (accessed 2015-02-15) Auke Visser's website, Lago / Creole Petroleum Corp., list of all their ships with link to individual stories (accessed 2015-02-21) The Ships List website, Andrew Weir & Co. / Bank Line (accessed 2015-02-16) Harland and Wolff shipyard website, ship search page (accessed 2015-02-17)