Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

‘ We’ve had Ferragamo/
Swan regattas here, and
Rolex/Farr 40 meetings,
and we have a UBS/
Oyster regatta coming in
July, 2004. An Oyster
owner for 15 years,
Amherst is looking
forward to that.
’
32 www.oystermarine.com
computer instead. In the meantime, his
growing attraction for a young woman named
Elisabeth Merriman, from Surrey, resulted in
their marriage in1965.
"I got to know him opening the mail," Peter
Seal says. "In those days we had
communications by cable, but most
everything was done by mail, and every
morning there was a huge pile of mail
dumped on the conference table. There
would be Hugh and me in this grand room
with 20 leather chairs, opening the mail and
sorting it by department. In those days one
started at the bottom. Then we moved on to
the decoding of cables, because everything
was in code for security and brevity. We used
to complain to one another over lunch."
Those in shipping are quick to let you know it
is the world’s second oldest profession, and
they wear on their sleeves the pride of the
history, tradition, and adventure that still
surrounds it. Gone are the days when the
success of every voyage was uncertain. But
in spite of all the electronics, and deterrents
like the Automatic Identification System now
required for ships between 300 and 50,000
gross registered tons, pirates continue to
stalk the shipping lanes with a startling
degree of success. And storms wreck havoc
with older vessels.
As communication improved, the management
side of the business got tougher. Even in the
1960s Peter Seal recalls frequenting the Baltic
Exchange with Hugh Amherst, where all
shipping deals had been done in person since
the 1700s. Amherst had become a broker,
buying and selling ships at Galbraith
Wrightson. At The Exchange, owners, brokers,
shippers, and insurance principals met over
coffee (or brandy) to parlay bits of valuable
information, match available ships with cargo,
and drum up all manner of deals. But with the
rapid succession of telex, fax, email, and the
cell phone, the grand congeniality of the
business evolved into a more stressful,
breakneck pace.
"It’s a very competitive business," Peter Seal
says. "You need a killer instinct, because at
the end of the day you do have to win. Big
money is involved. One of our ships recently
sold for $18 million, with a commission of
1%. A new 100-tonner costs $40 million. And
the clients are worldwide. From New York to
Tokyo someone is always awake and ready
to make a deal. It breaks some people. They
begin drinking heavily. Some broker’s wives
sleep in a separate room so they won’t be
disturbed when the phone rings at all hours.
The cell phone helps. Before, you always
worried when you left the office."
After Amherst moved to E.A. Gibson, Seal
says he did a lot of deals with his old friend,
who he says is a tough competitor. "If I could
convince Hugh about a deal, that meant I
could convince the owner," Seal says with a
laugh. Most memorable were the deals they
didn’t do. Seal recalls being in Italy on
holiday having told Amherst not to worry,
there would be no business done while he
was away. But an owner rang him about a
specific ship he heard was on the market.
"There were certain areas Hugh wasn’t
involved in, and this was one of them," Seal
says. "So I bought the ship for my client.
Hugh had a bloody fit. He screamed at me
on the phone. ‘Why didn’t you tell us!’ I told
him the perfect ship was right there in front of
me. He protested, said he could have come
up with an alternative. He was emotional if he
lost a deal. It wasn’t just the money. He’d lost
the game." His sailing friends say that
Amherst’s killer instinct can also reveal itself
over a game of table football.