Even Tollefsen

Even Tollefsen (September 4, 1841 – June 21, 1897) was a Norwegian sea captain and inventor.

Tollefsen built the first useful system for shipping oil in tankers. He was a talented engineer that acquired most of his technical knowledge and skills through self-study. and was hired by Gustav Conrad Hansen's newly established shipping company.

Tollefsen was employed by Hansen's shipping company throughout his professional career. In 1897 he was captain of the full rig Magnhild when the coal cargo shifted during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland and the ship went down. Most of the lifeboats were shattered when the Magnhild capsized, but Tollefsen commanded the crew into the only usable lifeboat left and most were rescued. Tollefsen himself remained at his post and perished with his ship.

The Jan Mayn (258 gross register tonnage) proved too small to be profitable, the Stadt (377 grt) was lost, but the Lindesnæs (674 grt) operated in the Atlantic for many years, with Even Tollefsen himself as captain. The business was very lucrative for both the shipowner and the charterer, and in 1886 Tollefsen outfitted two new ships: the Einar (625 grt) and the Rolf (1,211 grt), and then two more in the early 1890s. He improved the system along the way by developing an ingenious system of pumps and hoses that took care of waste oil and separated out seawater that penetrated the tanks. and Axel Camillo Eitzen, both of whom had followed Tollefsen's work at the Fagerheim shipyard and participated in the subsequent oil-freighting period, made the world aware that Tollefsen alone deserved the credit for the technical innovations, whereas the shipowner Gustav Hansen was a businessman that was able to financially exploit the invention.

For the 100th anniversary of Tollefsen's birth in 1941, the Tønsberg Seamen's Association set up a bust of Tollefsen at Teie on Nøtterøy. Every May 17, a wreath-laying ceremony is held at the bust. Just below the park with Tollefsen's bust is Even Tollefsens vei (Even Tollefsen Road).