isolated little island where the horse and buggy held sway, Esso Standard Oil (Caribbean) SA, was serving the people of Bermuda.

The story of modern Bermuda, spanning almost one hundred years, is also the story of Esso, for it was the quietly pioneering spirit of this company, often acting with remarkable foresight, that has contributed so much to the Island's development.

At the turn of the century, kerosene was already an essential item for Bermudians, who used it to keep the lamps alight in the two lighthouses, for cooking and home lighting, as was machine gas, used in the first two major hotels, the Hamilton and Princess.

The Island's first, and by far the oldest supplier of petroleum products, set up shop in Hamilton in 1908, in an office in the Point Pleasant Hotel, at Albuoy's Point, moving two years later to premises where Bluck's now stands.

In those days Esso (a wholly-owned affiliate of the Exxon Corporation), operated here under the name of West India Oil Co. and had an office staff of one.

Crude oil, sold to pharmacies, came in five-gallon cans, lubricating oils in wooden barrels, steel drums or five-gallon pails and was delivered to customers by horse, or more frequently, by mule-power.

The end of World War I brought many changes to Bermuda, not least of which was the realisation that the increasing dominance of steamships making more frequent calls at Bermuda, would require greater oil storage and bunkering facilities.

Esso was ready for this challenge, shrewdly purchasing land in St. George's, on the foreshore of the deep waters of Murray's Anchorage. Here, they erected two 35,000-barrel fuel storage tanks.

There was still little call for motor gasoline, with all vehicles (apart from those of the emergency variety) strictly prohibited. Since 1931, the Bermuda Railway, which had a right-of-way through the Esso terminal, had improved Bermuda's transportation problems, and had taken on the job of transporting kerosene to Esso's Hamilton warehouse and other Island depots.

The importance of Esso's presence in St. George's was underlined with the World War II establishment of the US Naval Bases and the construction of an airfield just across the waters of Ferry Reach. Esso had won the lucrative contract to supply petroleum products to both bases.

So Esso became a major player in this massive operation, purchasing extra land adjoining its existing holdings in St. George's and in 1941, constructing additional storage for fuel and diesel oil, aviation and motor gasoline.

Undersea pipelines were laid to Kindley Field and throughout the war their bulk storage tanks were the sole source of storage for all of Kindley's aviation gasoline requirements.

Today, Esso and Shell are the only two suppliers of fuel to the airport, both for the Base and commercial section.

When the activities of the US military escalated in the late 1950s, Esso was able to supply the greatly increased amounts of aviation gasoline and jet fuel required for air to air refuelling of aircraft. It was this growing demand for fuel that led Esso to the conclusion that deeper water was needed to accommodate large oil tankers, and the Esso pier was extended offshore some 120 feet. At the same time, underground storage tanks were built at Ferry Reach.

Aviation, of course, had come to Bermuda many years before.

Esso's first aviation customers were two RAF veterans of World War I who in 1919 ran a short-lived sightseeing operation where passengers could get an aerial tour of Bermuda, using two-seater seaplanes and a three-seater flying boat.

It was not until the mid-1930s that Pan American and Imperial Airways (now British Airways) inaugurated their flying-boat services to Darrell's Island.

Esso supplied the fuel.

The long and embittered opposition to the introduction of the motor car into Bermuda was dramatically eroded when US staff cars, trucks and the machines that went hand in hand with modern mechanical warfare were let loose on the Island's quiet and dusty lanes, many of which were hastily converted into asphalt roads. Bermuda became used to seeing vehicles travelling from one end of the Island to the other, and as World War II finally came to an end, the time was ripe to press for the introduction of the private motor car.

The Bermuda Railway was abandoned in favour of a public bus service and cars which, it was fondly thought in 1946, would not unduly clutter the roads.

This momentous decision on the part of the Bermuda Government was to open another vast new field for Esso and, once again, the company was ready with plans to construct Bermuda's first service stations.

The site selected for the central operation was at Richmond Road, adjacent to the company's new administrative offices built on land purchased in 1935, and with a twist of irony, supplanting the old Richmond Road railway station. And, paradoxically, the gas used in those first motor vehicles was transported by horse for ultimate delivery into the cars' tanks. The first Esso pump was surrounded with a six-foot high wire fence -- an indication of the cautious regulations then in effect.

Until 1952, Esso was the sole supplier of motor gasoline.

The first motor tank wagon to deliver petroleum products was a 1500 gallon COE-type Ford, permitted during the war, but outlawed afterwards by the strict legislation of the Motor Car Act of 1946. A second, slightly smaller Ford tank wagon was also subsequently prohibited. These were the forerunners to the company's present large fleet of motor tank trucks.

In 1948 Esso also constructed a bulk storage facility for Esso Gas (Propane) which, until then, had been shipped back and forth in cylinders from New York for refilling. A bottling plant for distribution of liquified petroleum gas was also erected.

In 1962, the administrative offices at Richmond Road were moved to Ferry Reach, opposite the Bulk Oil Terminal.

More recent innovations by Esso include the construction in the early 1970s of a nine-mile long pipeline connecting the St. George's terminal with Belco at Serpentine Road in Pembroke.

Esso has come a long way since Alexander Despard Clay became the first manager, in 1908, of what was virtually a one-man operation.

Bermudian Mr. W. Keith Hollis now runs the multi-faceted company that indeed fuels the very existence of the Island. A service that is often taken for granted but which plays such a vital part in shipping and air services, and on land, provides us with the means to run our cars, taxis, buses, ferries and motor boats.