SS Esso Brussels

Esso Brussels was a commercial oil tanker built for the Esso Oil company in 1959. She was involved in a collision in 1973 in which thirteen of her crew perished. She was rebuilt and sailed under various other names until being scrapped in 1985.

Construction and service

She was built at Kockums shipyard in Malmö, Sweden and launched on 26 October 1959. Following outfitting, she entered commercial service transporting crude and refined oil products for the Esso Oil Company throughout Europe, Africa and North America. Built along classic lines with the bridge and the officer's quarters located amidships and the engines, crew quarters and aft deckhouse located toward the stern, Esso Brussels was a typical oil tanker in both size and design for her time.

Collision with the container vessel Sea Witch

The Esso Brussels dropped anchor in the southernmost anchorage of The Narrows in New York Harbor on May 30, 1973, fully loaded with 319,402 barrels (50,780.9 m³) of light Nigerian crude oil destined for Exxon's Bayway Refinery. While she waited for the high tide, her mixed European crew of 36 men and one woman, first steward Gisele Rome, under the command of Captain Constant Dert went about their daily routine into the evening of the 30th. When the 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. watch came on duty all seemed normal.

.brussels

.brussels is a generic top-level domain for Brussels, Belgium.

See also

References

Brussels

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, [bʁysɛl]; Dutch: Brussel, [ˈbrʏsəl]), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest), is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium, the French Community of Belgium, and the Flemish Community. The region has a population of 1.2 million and a metropolitan area with a population of over 1.8 million, the largest in Belgium.

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a major centre for international politics and has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants. Brussels is the de facto capital (or one of three capitals including Luxembourg and Strasbourg) of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions. The secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are also located in Brussels.

City of Brussels

The City of Brussels (French: Ville de Bruxelles [vil də bʁysɛl] or alternatively Bruxelles-Ville [bʁysɛl vil], Dutch: Stad Brussel [stɑd ˈbrʏsəl] or Brussel-Stad) is the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the de jure capital of Belgium.

The City of Brussels is a municipality consisting of the central historic town and certain additional areas within the greater Brussels-Capital Region, namely Haren, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek to the north, and Avenue Louise and the Bois de la Cambre park to the south.

On 1 January 2015, the City of Brussels had a total population of 175,534. The total area is 32.61 km² which gives a population density of 5,464 inhabitants per km². As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels.

Territorial history

At first, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day small ring. As the city grew, the surrounding villages grew as well, eventually growing into a contiguous city, though the local governments retained control of their respective areas.