Frame size: 7.7 x 10.5 cm
The diesel engine emerged in the 1910s as an alternative to steam-driven propulsion systems for ocean-going vessels, with the Dutch East Asiatic Company in particular commissioning the diesel-powered, 5000-ton ‘Selandia’ in 1912. However, it was only after the First World War that diesel-driven motor vessels started to seriously challenge steamships as the dominant mode of sea transportation. Nevertheless, steamers, especially the newer turbine-driven models, continued to be built and operated in considerable numbers in the 1920s as the considerable capital costs involved in building diesel engines coupled with high oil prices prolonged the period of transition from steam to diesel. The emergence of diesel-driven vessels in the interwar years encouraged oil companies such as the Asiatic Petroleum Company and Texaco to establish oil-storage and bunkering facilities on the island, thus ensuring Singapore’s continued role as a main port of call in the region.
