The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-11-02
Former General Manager of
Pensacola Shipbuilding Com
pany Is Elected President of
Corporation.
SUCCEEDS SWEENEY
WHO is TO RETIRE
Captain Stewart Tells Story of
American Merchant Marines
Enterprise in Establishing
Fueling Stations.

AT meeting of the Board of Di-
rectors Of the Pensacola Shipbuilding
Company yesterday afternoon Captain
Paul p. Stewart was elected president.
succeeding John NJ. Sweeney, who is
to retire. Captain Stewards cleo
tion as head OF the comDanS IS said to
be source of qualification to a large
number of the departmental heads, as
well as to the men.
Captain Stewart has studied the
needs of the American merchant marine
very carefully. since it's inception.
and feels that the present time is one
or the most critical periods in it's de-
velopment. One of the most import
ant features in the operation of
american ships, according to Captain
Stewart is the establishment of ade-
quate fueling stations throughout the
the world. Much has been done
along these lines. and Captain Stew
are tells of the work in the following
interview:
American steamships can soon
make circuit of the world without
the need of taking fuel at other than
American owned fuel stations This
applies to vessels steaming east from
the Atlantic Coast or west from the
Pacific seaboard.
'The as yet unwritten history of this
accomplishment dates from the time
when war conditions developed an
acute situation in the worlds coal
supply. During the early stages of
the war, Great Britain put into ef-
feet a system of bunker license as
necessary military measure. The Unit
ed States Shipping Board realized that
after war conditions might develop a
situation with respect to coal supplies
which would dictate the necessity of
a modified application of bunker IL
cense at British stations. In that event
we would have been at serious dis
advantage unless immediate steps were
taken to assure unrestricted opera
tion of our ships in the wold's trade.
To accomplish this it was necessary
to have oil burning steamships, in
stead of coal burners. with a large
steaming radius, and so far as prac-
ticable this to be fixed at a mini
mum of 10000 miles. The British
order of September 29th, 1919, justi-
fled these apprehensions. But at tina
time we were ready.
The next task was to find suit
able places for the establishment of
fuel stations along the trade lanes or
adjacent to them. At the Panama
Canal the turn at the worlds cross
road, facilities already existed and
only required to be amplified. To take
care of the east coast trade of South
America, a station was erected at st.
Thomas. This station. which had an
initial capacity of $4,000 tons of stor-
age. was opened on October 2.
arrangements have been made for
Establishing station at the Azones and
another at Bizerta. small French
island off Tunic and located on the
ocean highway to the Indies. Material
has been assembled at Mania, where
another large storage tank is to be
erected.
Despite what has been DONE. said
Captain Stewart. I'VE are still at the
threshold OF the major part Of the
question, this involving an increase in
storage capacity of fuel stations and
additional tank steamships for trans
porting oil to them. We must also
take into account the fact that we
must now carry oil to our Atlantic
seaports. not only from Mexico but
from the Texas and Louisiana fields
as we'll
Finally we must awake to- the i'm
portance of encouraging the estab-
lishment of national interest in other
known and probable oil regions of the
world. For two years our British
Continued on page Two