Murex

It was called the Murex—named for a type of seashell, as were all of Samuel’s subsequent tankers.

The Prize

Tyrian purple is made from the fresh mucous secretion of a big sea snail that is variously known as Murex brandaris and Haustellum brandaris.

Let the tree be purple.

Therefore, the silk tradition in Lebanon is more than two thousand years old and goes back to the period of the famous purple dye (ourjouan) extracted from the Murex shell by the Phoenicians of Sidon and Tyre and which was used to produce imperial purple silk.

Magda Abu-Fadil: "Gold and Silk" Revive Past Splendors at Lebanon Museum

It did so by suing the UK firm Murex for patent infringement and preventing Murex from selling its cheaper HCV blood tests.

Harriet A. Washington: Gene Patenting Produces Profits, Not Cures

Murex trunculus and Murex bandaris, two species of sea snails that litter the coasts of Italy and Asia Minor, beat her critters to the punch by a good two thousand years.

MANUFACTURING DEPRESSION

Brit historian and documentary maker/presenter Michael Woods did an "in search of" film about Murex in the 80's for the Beeb.

Let the tree be purple.

Palladian, yes, Murex purple is an interesting story.

Let the tree be purple.

Among the many tankers that Shell lost during the war was the Murex, which had been the first vessel dispatched by Marcus Samuel through the Suez Canal in 1892 to carry out his great coup.

The Prize

Marcus Samuel sends the Murex through the Suez Canal; beginning of Shell.

The Prize

Murex is the special shellfish dye used for purple cloth; its cost is phenomenal.

See Delphi and Die