Old Marcus Samuel, the present Lord Bearsted's great grandfather, had a shop
in what was then called Sailors' Town near the Tower of London.  It was a
district that catered for the needs of sailors and ships; and old Marcus
would buy the sailors' wares, particularly seashells from the Far East.
With these shells mounted into boxes, he laid the foundation of his
business.  When he died in 1870, his estate was valued at 40,000 pounds; and
it was with the increment of the money he left that the family built the
first oil tanker....Out of gratitude to old Marcus, the company's oil
tankers were named after shells, the first being called Murex. - "Shells" by
Roderick Cameron, 1961