50 Years Ago

Reading the December 1968 issue of The Motor Ship, so much seems to belong to a later period that I had to look twice to see that I had the right date,…

The lead article in The Motor Ship, October 1968, concerned using crude oil as a ship fuel. The motivation came from some tanker owners, operating in isolated locations without normal bunkering facilities.

Proof that, 50 years ago, Britain still regarded its shipbuilding industry as significant was evident in a full-page message in a prominent position in the January 1965 issue of The Motor Ship,…

Although, as we know, transport by sea of gaseous cargoes is far from new, it may seem surprising that commercial international shipping of LNG began exactly 50 years ago.

Big news back in October 1964 was that the first licence for building high power Diesel engines in the US had been awarded by Sulzer Bros to Nordberg Manufacturing.

The September 1964 issue of The Motor Ship led with news that a US company was to build a European-designed large marine Diesel engine. This may not seem a particularly newsworthy story…

The big news in ‘The Motor Ship’, August 1964, was the US nuclear powered merchant ship, ‘Savannah’ undertaking its first voyages, including visiting several European ports.

Such is today’s focus on alternative fuels that it seemed slightly odd to see that the same subject was a hot topic back in 1964.

Such is the dominance of the internal combustion engine in today’s ships that it is easy to forget that the prime purpose of ‘The Motor Ship’ when launched in 1920 was to…

Automation was the hot topic in 1964. The April issue of The Motor Ship devoted several articles to the subject.

The lead article in The Motor Ship, March 1964, suggested that the Diesel engine had been accepted as preferred ship propulsion technology everywhere except the USA.

The pages of The Motor Ship, February 1964, provided a breath of fresh air. Rather than the emphasis on large-bore engines, the reader was presented with a somewhat broader range of topics.

The January 1964 issue of The Motor Ship concentrated on reviewing shipbuilding in the previous year, with an emphasis on what were seen as the ‘hot topics’ of the time.

To many of us – myself included – 50 years doesn’t really seem that long ago. And looking at some items in old copies of The Motor Ship we think that little…

The Motor Ship for October 1963 began with reports that Shell Tankers was bucking the trend away from opposed-piston engines by chartering a newbuild tanker with the latest Doxford J-type engine.

In The Motor Ship, September 1963, the debate raged on about large bore marine diesel engines. Then, as now, there was discussion about whether a single large engine was a more economic…