| Description | This file appears to owe its existence to the Principal's [Hilton Clarke] interest in the promotion of United Kingdom (UK) finance for tanker-building, possibly prompted by a speech by Stephens, a managing director of Shell, expressing concern at the apparent lack of obvious sources of finance for the massive tanker-building programme envisaged for the future, together with complaints channelled through the Chancellor of difficulties in obtaining finance for tankers. The file contains press cuttings and copies of notes on the subject, including papers on the Ship Mortgage Finance Co; Tanker Finance Co, formed by M Samuel to finance tankers for Shell, Tanker Charter Co, formed by R Fleming; Ship Mortgage Finance Co for BP; and Tankership Finance (UK) formed by M Samuel for Caltex. A significant Discount Office input arose from an enquiry by Lord Kindersley on the Bank's attitude towards ship-building bills. |