George Young keeps an era alive

18 Feb 2000 - By Staff reporter

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FTW's founder John H Marsh was a shipping man to his fingertips. Writing shipping articles from the age of 14 he had one rival - George Young.Marsh was still writing about
shipping into his eighties when he died in 1997. Young, too, has not put his pen down, writes Ray Smuts.

THE SCHOOLBOY could not have cared less about studying where in-the-mood codling moths went to coddle and he told his astonished school headmaster so.
Nor was he interested in obtaining a first class matric in order to qualify for a 'prestigious' 12 pound a month job at Barclays Bank.
I already earn more than that, the standard eight pupil-turned-freelance writer told the academic, whereupon he was promptly dismissed from sight, soon to leave the school benches of his own accord.
George Young was intent on being his 'own man', to quote a latter day phrase, and the rest is history.
Now approaching 84 years and never having regretted quitting in Cape Town, Young is convinced he made the right move.
Going to school was the greatest hindrance in my life. I wanted nothing more than learning about maritime affairs, trade, commerce and all that, the sprightly octogenarian sporting a Nedlloyd tie told me over tea and flapjacks at his Camps Bay home recently.
After 68 years in journalism, all of them devoted to shipping and the men who go down to sea, Young is the undisputed 'doyen' of maritime writers - a rather special accolade as there sadly aren't any left.
Daily shipping pages crammed with colourful editorial and column upon column of lucrative advertising have disappeared completely from South African newspapers. You wouldn't think Cape Town is a port city, he sniffs derisively.
The esteem in which he is held by the shipping world is clearly borne out by a comment from the late Marmion Marsh, former managing director of Safmarine, who wrote: Thank goodness he is content to remain a friendly critic rather than a competitor. I find interesting his deep perception of industry trends.
For Young much of the glamour surrounding shipping has gone with the disappearance of the mail ships and the demise of so many shipping lines ... Union Castle, Holland Africa, Elder Dempster, Blue Funnel Line, Robin Line and Royal Interocean to name a few.
Do you know that Britain has only one shipping line left, P&O? he says.
Young chooses to remember with great affection the days when he and John Marsh, a close friend two years his senior, who was later to become his opposition shipping editor, used to cycle to the harbour with their trusty box cameras.
Even in those early days of the 1930s the youths were showing a good deal of entrepreneurial flair, taking pictures of every single ship and later selling them to newspapers at a good profit.
This was an important assignment, even when film with six exposures cost one shilling and sixpence - expensive for schoolboys. But we sold pictures to the media for ten shillings and sixpence apiece.
John Marsh, the founder of Now Media, was the son of Cape Town housing agent JC Marsh. Educated at Sea Point Boy's High, he grew up a stone's throw from Young in the Atlantic seaboard suburb of Sea Point.
When Marsh ceased writing for the Rand Daily Mail in order to become shipping editor of the Cape Argus, part of a rival newspaper group, it was Young who wrote for the Johannesburg-based newspaper, earning considerably more than the 12-pounds-a-month Barclays Bank matriculant.
John was a really upright fellow, no boozing or anything like that. Though very excitable, he had a great sense of humour and I found him completely unaffected and delightfully charming, Young recalls.
In 1938, five years after Marsh had joined the Cape Argus, Young became shipping editor of the rival Cape Times where, apart from war service in the air forces, he was to remain until his retirement in 1981.
Though great friends, there was a friendly rivalry as we chased stories and I was petirified that John might have picked up my story for the following morning, his being the afternoon paper.
Was he ever scooped by Marsh? Young diplomatically sidesteps the question to point out that stories would sometimes break, in the Argus's time and on other occasions in favour of the Times. One has a scoop when the opposition has missed the story completely.
Marsh remained with the Cape Argus for 20 years as shipping editor. As passenger travel took to the air, he later left for Johannesburg, concentrating on his own shipping and travel publications, of which FTW was one.
Married to Leona and the father of four children, he died in 1997.
Young remains a picture of health with a blood pressure of 135 over 60. His memory is razor-sharp and he has not lost his infectious sense of humour, a favourite tale being the discovery 20 years ago that he only had one kidney.
I told the doctor I was born in 1916 when there was a shortage of everything, he guffaws, before adding that his visiting card still contains the words George Young, 1916 single kidney model.
Young has many views on many subjects. He says of container ships: This era, by virtue of its enormous cost and sophistication, has reduced still further the competitive element between established lines who see virtue in tte-‡-tte working and it is not surprising in the circumstances that much of the romance has deserted the waterfront.
He is critical too of ports still being run from Johannesburg and believes South Africa's harbours should follow the same privatisation route as Maputo. He has severe doubts that Portnet Cape Town will ever be able to cope, particularly in its container terminal, in the event of a sudden upsurge in business.
Married since 1944 to Enid (affectionately known as Pixie), Young has three children, sons Robert and Alan and daughter Barbara. Robert is fleet director for Unicorn and Alan a senior chief engineer for the same company.
For the past 10 years Young has kept busy publishing Seaviews, a 1500-circulation monthly shipping digest.
He fiercely resists offers by big business to inject cash into the venture, which would effectively return him to the ranks of the salaried employee, but one question still clearly looms at the back of his mind: Who will continue in his footsteps when he has gone?
They don't make them like that any more.

*FTW's Cape Town correspondent, Ray Smuts, started his journalistic career on the Cape Times in 1964 and sat two desks away from George Young in the newsroom.
Like George and John he used to cycle to the harbour at weekends to photograph ships with his Box Brownie camera and boasts a sizeable collection of ship's postcards.