several tank farms. In 1897, Royal Dutch increased its capital to 5 million guilders (in 1890, the nominal capital had been 1.3 million guilders) and paid a dividend of 52 percent. He also started nascent joint venture talks with Marcus Samuel, an important trader in oil products based in London under the "Shell" name, but a merger did not take place until 1907, with Royal Dutch taking a dominant role by owning 60 percent of the new holding company. Even mighty Standard Oil began to get concerned about the new rival in the business. Dr. F.C. Gerretson, in his four-volume History of the Royal Dutch, heaped praise on Kessler, describing his leadership as necessary for the building of one of the world's major companies: "He was high-strung and passionate, forceful and impervious, a man of strong prepossessions and often difficult to get along with. He was a born leader of men. Few knew so well how to concentrate all available resources upon a single purpose; how to inspire their fellow workers with their own enthusiasm and energy. Few were capable of such absolute devotion to the task once it has been undertaken". Another book, Joost Jonker's and Jan Luiten van Zanden's A History of Royal Dutch Shell, lauds Kessler's "unbelievable capacity for hard work...Kessler's sometimes strained behavior emanated from the inner tension between his formal training as a gentleman and his leadership drive, from the necessity to sustain polite discussion whilst craving to go into action". Kessler was a novice at oil and did not have much technical training, but "quickly developed a remarkable, intuitive grasp of the industry in all its aspects, founded on his keen sense for figures". Unexpected death The hard work amid difficult surroundings led to Kessler's death one day shy of his 47th birthday. In 1898, oil production in the overworked oil field dropped precipitously. Kessler managed to get a concession for a new oil field from the local Sumatran king and in 1900 he went back to Dutch East Indies one last time. When he arrived he was sick and after only a few days he telegraphed the head office in The Hague that he needed to recuperate and would take the next boat back. He died from a heart attack when his ship made port in Naples, the first stop after the Suez Canal. Kessler, according to Jonker and van Zanten, was "really