Named after the Persian prophet Zarathustra, the first tanker ship in history became operational in 1878.
The Zoroaster was constructed with steel (Bessemer variance) while its oil storage tanks were made out of iron. Considering the year of its creation, the Zoroaster was actually quite advanced technologically.
The Zoroaster had ballast tanks in order to balance it while sailing for better ease in the transportation process of its cargo.
The vessel was over 180 feet long with an over 35 feet breadth and a draught of around ten feet. The cargo capacity of the tanker was around 240 gross tons of crude lamp oil.
In the following years after the Zoroaster had turned out to be a success, the Nobel brothers approved the construction of eight additional tankers for their corporation Branobel with some suitable constructional modifications as required.
Each of the eight vessels proved to be as or even more efficient than the Zoroaster and basically shaped the utilization of tankers as we know them today.
