Former colleagues and friends have been sharing their memories of former Clarksons chief executive David Gault, who has died at the age of 93.
Ex-Clarksons broker Michael Blaney first became aware of the shipbroking legend when he joined Clarksons' S&P team as a 28-year-old in 1969.
"Apart from a warm welcome on my arrival and 'good mornings' and 'good evenings' I had really no dialogue," he said.
Then in the spring of 1970 he received a call from his boss. “He asked me how I was settling in,” Blaney remembers.
"I was immediately struck by his warmth and sincerity. His falsetto laugh was somewhat infectious and I felt at ease in his company," he added.
Blaney believes Gault had been briefed that he and his wife had recently had their first child and were looking to a buy a house.
When Gault asked how this was going, Blaney said he was struggling a bit with the deposit.
"Immediately David said 'we might be able to help you here — how much are you short?" the broker said.
"I told him I needed £750 — it was actually the full 10% but I thought it was worth asking!" he added.
"To my surprise, David said the company would be happy to advance that sum. I was then completely bowled over when he went on to say 'but you will need some carpet and curtains won't you — lets top it up to £1,000'."
Blaney said the story sums up Gault's kindness. "For that I will always be grateful," he adds.
Lifelong friends
Shipowner John Denholm's father was a lifelong friend of Gault.
"I have happy memories of holidays together," Denholm said.
"Firstly on my father's boat Hirta, where we found ourselves storm-bound in Lamlash, and the Gault family were somewhat taken aback by the lack of a shower on the boat," he remembers.
"Then on the Shannon on concrete motor boats called Mirander and Marauder, where once again the Denholms and Gaults had rather different standards — much to David's horror we drank Nescafe!" Denholm added.
He recalls a fishing trip in Norway with shipowner Atle Jebsen when Gault, a keen angler, was horrified to find the hotel they were staying in was full of people on a Clarkson Holidays package tour.
An unhappy uncle
Former colleague Adrian Thornton remembers Gault reminiscing about his uncle Jimmy, a substantial shareholder, becoming annoyed when something happened at the company he didn't like.
They had "blistering" rows, with Jimmy waving his tightly furled umbrella at his nephew in a highly aggressive manner, then striding out of the office in a fury.
Thornton said Gault came from a long-standing shipping family.
His French Huguenot forebears settled in Ireland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
The family became prosperous as traders and shipowners in Strabane, and a number of their ships appear in Lloyds List editions back then, one of them called 'Leslie Gault'.
However, the 1830s post-Napoleonic trade downturn saw them facing bankruptcy.
Seeking a renewal of fortune the family took ship to Canada in 1838 and acquired land in Montreal.
By dint of hard work, acumen and a Presbyterian adherence to honesty and straight dealing the Gaults became extremely wealthy and well regarded. Of the three sons of the original settling family, one became "Cotton King" of Canada, another founded The Sun Life Insurance Company and a third prospered trading in dry goods.
In due course David Gault's father, another Leslie Gault, with two brothers and a sister, were sent to England for their education, where Leslie joined Clarksons.
Canadian advice
Gault's brother-in-law Aylmer Gribble, owner of Gibson Marine Services in Canada, said: "It was thanks to David that I was sent to Montreal, so I will be eternally grateful to him for his support.
"Canada has been good to me, even owning the company and becoming an Admiralty Marshal," he added.
Shipbroker Alan Marsh recalls arriving at Clarksons in 1968 as an 18-year-old.
"David was managing director and very much one of the three senior people at Clarksons, with Carron Greig as tanker head and Sir Alexander Glen as chairman," he said.
"David was very involved in the shipowning side of Clarksons, who in those days had a big fleet tied up with Seabridge. I suspect he was influential in securing Clarksons exclusivity from many British owners on S&P," Marsh added.
