Salvesen, J T & Co
Biography
Johan Theodor Salvesen was born in Mandal, Norway in 1820. He learnt the shipping business in his father's firm before taking up work from 1837 to 1842 in Konigsberg and Pillau. In 1842 he spent a year in a German merchant company based in Glasgow. The following year he set up his own broking and agency business at Grangemouth with an office in Grange Street. The business comprised shipbroking, sailing, shipowning, grain importing, timber merchanting and forwarding. Most of the ships were registered in Mandel under the name of his elder brother Emil, who was responsible for the local management. In 1846 Theodor established a business in Leith, partnering George Turnbull, a Leith merchant. This company traded as Salvesen & Turnbull. In 1851 His brother Christian became manager of the Leith Office and in 1853 Theodor retired from the partnership in favour of Christian. Theodor died in 1865. The firm continued with the next three generations of the family; Theodor's sons Thomas, Niels and Adolph; his two grandsons Ralph and Cedric; and his great grandson Roger. The expansion of the port facilities at Grangemouth encouraged the firm to become shipowners. For their steam powered fleet they adopted the policy of ending their ships' names with the letter "a". Between 1871 and 1889 the initial letters of these ships spelled out the name SALVESEN. The company also operated lighters on the Forth & Clyde Canal. In 1905 the J T Salvesen built larger office accommodation at Grangeburn Rd. By the start of the First World War the company owned 12 ships, but many of these were lost. In 1939 three ships were in service - the Vina, Siva and Vestra. Only the latter survived. She became uneconomic and ceased trading in the late 1950s. As the shipowning side declined the agency business expanded, until container ships replaced the conventional liner trades. In the early 1960s Ralph Salvesen sold the company to Glen & Co Ltd of Glasgow. They in turn were bought by F T Everard & Sons Ltd of Greenhithe and London. It was sold again in 1985 to the George A Morrison Group of Leith.