Shell Oil Tankers, Tankcars and Tanks

Sometimes, when looking for photos of Kingston's waterfront trackage in its heyday, the bushes have to be beaten vigorously! While doing some related reading recently, I came across two examples. Notice the two tanks, possibly some piping, and two tank cars spotted at the waterfront in the above photo, from Forgotten Leaves of Local History Kingston by H.C. Burleigh (top photo). And, in a book on Kingston-area shipwrecks Treacherous Waters! Kingston's Shipwrecks by Cris Kohl, another gem. Ostensibly showing a hulk being raised from the bottom, we can again see tank cars, the labelled Shell tanks, and much more!

Shell began carrying fuel products on the lakes in 1932 as Dominion Tankers Ltd., reorganized as Shell Canadian Tankers Ltd. in 1942 then reverting to Shell Canada Ltd. in 1964. Vessels had black hulls and buff to cream superstructure with red stacks bearing the Shell logo. A 1963 insurance map view shows the Shell installation:

On July 2, 1962 the tanker Eastern Shell went aground off the Kingston Shipyards due to confusion between an extra buoy and the ship's charts. On its first visit to Kingston harbour at the time, the harbour was known to have a tricky approach for the uninitiated. The Wolfe Islander's Captain Richard Fawcett assisted by giving the tanker 'a little pull'. And a letter from a none-too-pleased Shell Oil regarding the bottom of Kingston harbour. Notice the frequency of ship arrivals mentioned in this 1964 letter, as well as the skulduggery alluded to. Also that the dock is shared with Imperial Oil and Rosen Oil:

The Inner Harbour was dredged in 1965. The J.P. Porter company removed 125,000 cubic yards of silt from the area between the causeway and the Naval Reserve dock, to a depth of 18 feet.  The weekend of the Kingston Tercentenary celebrations, a Whig photographer snapped Shell Oil's Fuel Marketer slipping underneath the LaSalle Causeway lift bridge on June 29, 1973. Bedecked with signal flags to celebrate the Royal Visit, it departs the Inner Harbour after discharging its load riding high in the water. Built by Marine Industries in Sorel, QC in 1944, Fuel Marketer was added to the Shell tanker fleet in 1963, renamed from White Rose in 1970 operated by Shell subsidiary Canadian Fuel Marketers Ltd., and was still in service in 1975. Tanker 'Eastern Shell' also visited Kingston in 1964.