History
Since the earliest days of tankships, the need to safely and efficiently transfer bulk liquid to a moored ship has been fundamental. An insufficient solution to this problem led to one of the world's first oil tanker disasters. In 1881, the Branobel tanker Nordenskjöld was taking on kerosene in Baku. The ship was connected to the pier with a simple piece of pipe. While loading, the ship was hit by a gust of wind and the cargo pipe carrying was jerked away from the hold. Kerosene then spilled onto the deck and down into the engine room, where mechanics were working in the light of kerosene lanterns. The ship then exploded, killing half the crew. Ludvig Nobel responded to the disaster by creating a flexible, leakproof loading pipe which was much more resistant to spills.
Chiksan brand marine loading arm manufacturer FMC Technologies claims to have built the world's first all-steel marine loading arm in 1956 and to have over 8,000 units installed worldwide.
Read more about this topic: Marine Loading Arm
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)