Not many people know the amazing connection among three stories recently in the news: Jews and Asians, because of the increase in hate crimes, and the Suez Canal, because of the traffic jam caused by a disabled ship blocking the canal. The Jews were the Marcus Samuel, Sr. family; the Asians were initially the Japanese; and the Suez Canal became the fastest route from Europe to Asia via ships that met specific requirements.
The Samuel family lived in a house over their store and warehouse near the docks on the East End of London where they made their living by selling knick- knacks and trinkets to mostly tourists and some curio shops in Victorian England. Some readers may remember the jewelry boxes, picture frames and other trinkets decorated with beautiful seashells that Samuel bought from the sailors returning from the Far East, where Samuel also developed an important network of trusted trading houses.
Marcus Jr. was sixteen when he joined the family business after completing his formal education. He began traveling throughout Asia and in 1876 took a trip around the world, not so much for adventure but rather to gain knowledge. After Colonel Perry opened Japan to the western world, which led to Japan’s industrialization, and after sailboats became steam ships and the Suez Canal was opened, Marcus Jr. anticipated that doing business with the Far East was going to change.
He decided that he should find the nearest supply of a commodity that would fill a local need. His answer was that Japan was dark because the fuel the Japanese used in their paper lamps was inefficient, and the charcoal they used to heat their homes not only emitted carbon monoxide, but also led to explosions. Marcus realized that kerosene, a distilled form of crude oil, was needed in Japan and throughout the Far East.
After securing the needed oil supply, Marcus Jr. negotiated exclusive rights for nine years to buy and sell oil east of the Suez Canal. He partnered with the trading houses with which his family had been doing business for so many years in Japan and other Asian countries, and together they created depots, warehouses, docks, storage tanks, refineries and railroad lines for the storing, shipping and distribution of oil.
The distribution of the oil presented problems. The oil was in wooden barrels that were bulky, wasted space within the ship, and after the oil was delivered, were too dirty to be reused. In addition, the engine was near the oil, resulting in explosions and fires. Samuel Jr. wanted a ship in which the wall of the ship would also serve as the wall of the container, thereby increasing space by 50% and eliminating the problematic barrels. And the engine would no longer be near the oil. He described the ship he wanted as a tanker, and named the first one that he had built the Murex, after a common sea snail found on the beaches of Japan.
Marcus Jr.’s tanker eliminated the problem of the fires and explosions that prevented ships carrying oil from entering the Suez Canal and was allowed to pass through, thereby shortening the trip by thousands of miles and reducing costs and increasing revenues.
No wonder there was a traffic jam at the Suez Canal as hundreds of ships waited to pass through! Marcus Samuel Jr.’s company became Shell Oil, and Asians helped bring safe light and heat to their homes and businesses throughout the Far East.
Ellen Rodman, Ph.D.
Coauthor (with Rabbi Marvin Tokayer) most recently of Pepper, Silk & Ivory: Amazing Stories about Jews and the Far East (2014) from which this piece is excerpted