The Union Sulphur Company was an American sulfur mining corporation founded in 1896 by the famous inventor Herman Frasch.

It utilized the Frasch Process to extract previously inaccessible sulfur deposits located beneath swampland in Louisiana.

Through a series of transactions, the Union Texas division eventually became part of multinational energy company BP.

[1][2] As early as 1867, organized efforts were made by various concerns to extract oil and sulfur located beneath a 50-acre hill rising out of a bayou in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.

Drilling revealed that beneath 400 feet of clay and gravel was a layer of quicksand, followed by a 100-foot thick bed of limestone containing pure sulfur deposits, underlain by gypsum.

The exploratory drilling continued down to 1,230 feet, still within the gypsum layer, without finding any significant oil deposits.

[1][2] For the next 23 years, a series of corporations aided by esteemed experts such as Professor Eugene W. Hilgard, noted French engineer Antoine Granet, Rossiter W. Raymond, and Richard P. Rothwell, attempted to mine the sulfur deposits.

Hilgard and Granet confirmed that about 450 feet below the surface was a 100-foot-thick layer of limestone impregnated with pure sulfur.

[1][2] The American Sulfur Company was not a fly-by-night venture, but a credible corporation backed by Abram Hewitt, Edward Cooper and Hamilton McKown Twombly.

Hewitt wanted greater assurances about the unproven extraction process, and Frasch went to work with engineers such as Jacques Toniette and Jacob Hoffman.

On a day in late December 1894, the Frasch Process succeeded, and pure molten sulfur rose up from beneath the bayou, and within 15 minutes the 40 barrels on hand to collect it were full.

[1][2] On January 23, 1896, the Union Sulphur Company was incorporated in New Jersey to take title to the land and Frasch patents.

On January 10, 1901, a huge oil field was discovered at Spindletop, not far from the Union Sulphur Company's drilling site.

The Union Sulphur Company now had easy access to cheap energy, making the sulfur mining process highly profitable.

Competitors such as the Freeport Sulphur Company quickly emerged and began to use the Frasch Process to extract sulfur from other nearby salt dome sites.

The company thereafter acquired additional properties for sulfur mining, but gradually transitioned to oil and natural gas extraction in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

[11] Through a series of transactions the Union Texas division eventually became part of multinational energy company BP.

[23] In 1899 the company purchased its first ship, the USS Hector, which was previously named Pedro and had been captured by the U.S. Navy during the Spanish–American War.

[26] The ship was 2,478 GRT, 268.3 ft (81.8 m) registered length with official number 218749, call letters LSKQ.

[27] Clio was operated by States Steamship until returned to Pacific American Fisheries after World War I.

The two later married, and Schoedsack would go on to co-direct the film King Kong with Ruth Rose editing the screenplay.

[25] Built in 1910 by Fore River Shipyard for the Union Sulphur Co. She was a 3,800 gross ton bulk carrier.

On the night of October 4, 1918, she and the USS George G. Henry accidentally collided, causing the much smaller Herman Frach to sink.

[35] Built in 1912 by the Fore River Shipyard for the Union Sulphur Co. She was a 3,365 gross ton bulk carrier.

She was operated by Japan during World War II until October 20, 1943, when she was sunk off the coast of French Indochina by the American Gato-class submarine USS Kingfish.

[36][37] Built in 1914 by the Fore River Shipyard as Pacific for the J. S. Emery Steamship Co. She was a 5,400 gross ton bulk carrier.

Only days after this unexplained disappearance, the commercial schooner Carroll A. Deering was discovered run aground on shoals off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The three unexplained incidents resulted in a public outcry about possible threats from pirates, communists, and other conspiracy theories.

[38] Built in 1912 by Newburgh Shipyards, Inc. for the Union Sulphur Co. She was a 4,500 gross register ton bulk carrier.

[45] Liberty Ships operated by the Union Sulphur Co. include:[46] Ben Holladay, Benjamin H. Brewster, Benjamin F. Coston, Carter Braxton, Casper S. Yost, Chilton Seam, Cornelius Ford, Edward G. Acheson, Frederick C. Hicks, Fred C. Stebbins, F. Southall Farrar, Henry Ward Beecher, James W. Grimes, John Ball, John Randolph, Joseph A. Holmes, Moses Cleaveland, Robert Newell, Russell A. Alger, Samuel Colt, St. Olaf, Telfair Stockton, Thomas F. Hunt, Thomas Johnson, William Leroy Gable, William W. McKee, William Wolfskill.