When Iain Harrison’s father and his partners wound up their shipping business after the Second World War, that might have marked the end of a family tradition that began in the 19th century with tramp ships and went on to feature ocean-going oil tankers.
Harrison, however, believed that he had more to offer, and entered the shipping world at a point when many traditional British companies disappeared. Training in London with Clarksons, a global company offering a range of shipping services, he found himself working under Sir Alexander Glen, a veteran of Marshal Tito’s Yugoslav campaign, who passed on his own experience of trading in the modern era. He worked first in ship broking, negotiating deals between owners and charterers and spent time in Norway, before moving back to his native Glasgow and setting up as a ship manager — the first rung on the ladder to being an owner.
With only modest capital to begin with, he set up his company, Harrisons Clyde, which managed cargo ships for their owners. There was no lack of adventure along the way. One of his ships was held in Shanghai during the Mao regime, while another ended high and dry on the shores of Chile after a tsunami. He shipped a sculpture from the USA via revolutionary Cuba for the Iona Community in Scotland and set up an iron ore carrying fleet for Ahmed Sékou Touré, the president of Guinea, after it was abandoned by the French without administrative staff so ministers were left typing their own letters to Harrison.
The company built up a fleet, pioneering a new generation of bulk carriers that could also carry the cars produced by Japan, a country Harrison came to know well. At his base in Glasgow a close-knit team reflected Harrison’s own warm personality; some of the seagoing staff spent their whole careers with the company.
As the world of shipping changed, Harrison pursued new opportunities initially in the North Sea for offshore supply vessels. A modern shipping service for the Scottish islands was highly successful. In 1996 he was made a CBE for his services to shipping.
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At the same time, he became a big supporter of the arts. He had inherited a collection of work by the Scottish Colourists, who had been friends of his father, and he became chairman of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.
Iain Vittorio Robinson Harrison grew up in the family home in Helensburgh overlooking the Clyde. His Anglo-Scottish grandmother’s Mylne forebears built Holyrood Palace and much of Scotland’s 17th and 18th century heritage. His mother came from Florence, was part Russian, and also a descendant of William Gully, Viscount Selby, Speaker of the House of Commons at the turn of the 19th century.
Iain and his younger brother Ronald, a diplomat, were educated at Charterhouse. Harrison did his national service in the Glasgow Yeomanry. In 1959 he married Fabienne Laurentie, a diplomat’s daughter he met in Brazil. Her mother had played an important role in the French resistance and was persecuted by the Nazis; the children were cared for by relatives and the villagers of Néron in central France; her father in Algeria was an adviser to De Gaulle. Harrison and his wife raised their children to become multilingual. Their daughter Iona is a qualified Japanese potter; of their four sons, Douglas is a translator and editor, Patrick a farmer, Nigel works in New York and Gerald is a pilot.
Harrison was that rare figure in business, an uncommon man who knew how to manage risks and in taking them achieved objectives that otherwise could not have been realised. His vision, professionalism and infectious goodwill are a model for a generation led to believe that business is all about sharp elbows.
As a boy he rode his bicycle with perfect balance and judgment, no hands on the handlebars; his hands were for grasping life itself.
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Iain Harrison CBE, shipowner and patron of the arts, was born on June 13, 1929, and died on November 25 , 2017, aged 88