( www.MaritimeCyprus.com ) Over the years, hundreds of tankers were employed in the grain trades. The first oceangoing steamer designed and built to carry oil in bulk was the Belgian-flagged Vaderland, which was built in 1872. The intended service of this vessel was to carry immigrants to the U.S. and return to Europe carrying petroleum. Prior to the first voyage, however, the authorities forbade the scheme as being too dangerous. The ship was then converted to a passenger cargo liner and never carried an oil cargo. The first prototype of the modern tanker was the Gluckauf of 1886. There were, however, numerous sailing ships owned by oil companies at the time. Interestingly, one such sailing tanker remains, the Falls of Clyde, currently laid up in Honolulu. Until recently, most tankers were fitted with a dry cargo hold, usually located near the forecastle, and included cargo booms for the loading and discharge of cargo. The hold averaged 15,000 cubic feet and was used for the carriage of barrels, cases and drums of lube oil or oil and chemical products. Tankers have been known to enter the dry trades. In 1944, World War II was raging across the European continent. The agricultural regions were devastated and what little grain remained in the fields could not be harvested with the farmers serving as soldiers. Europe’s cities faced starvation. The Battle of the Atlantic had fully employed all the dry cargo ships. Due to the urgency in Europe, a bold experiment was undertaken — bulk grain would be loaded into newly built tankers that had never been in the oil trades. It was decided that these vessels were to load at Canadian ports. The experiment became a success. These vessels did get safely across, although not much is known about their voyages. Gulfcrest was the first tanker to load a cargo of grain. Note the two cargo booms located over the dry cargo hold. [Photo Courtesy: Capt. James McNamara] Tankers did not enter the grain trade again until 1954, when economics