Sir Henry’s love of ships

By LARRY ANDREW

SIXTY years ago a love for ships drove late Sir Henry Chow to start Toboi Shipbuilding Company Limited.
This is his story as shared by his son Fabian Chow during the cocktail party hosted for the success of the Chebu shipping in Feb 17, 2017.
In those days there was no shipbuilding expertise but Chow went about creating the expertise from scratch. From there he went on to join the Papua New Guinea Apprentice Board in assisting and training Papua New Guineans in skills necessary for local manufacturing.
Sir Henry’s humble first office was a 4 x 4 meter shed made of roofing iron. He never allowed it to be pulled down and every now and then would look at it to remind himself of his humble beginning. That simple roofing iron shed stood proud as an iconic memory for him until it was destroyed by nature in 1994 during the volcanic eruptions.
From that modest beginning Sir Henry  went on to build 170 wooden and iron boats. Between 1958 and 1972 during this period of fourteen years he built an average of twelve boats a year. Not bad for a newly graduated apprentice without a penny of his own and the employ of eight young men from Pomio who were eager to train under him.
“We, sons of Sir Henry knew he built lots of boats because we were frequently at the Toboi shipyard watching VIPs launching a new ship,” Fabian said.
“Usually it was a pretty young lady who threw the bottle of champagne that sent the ship hurtling down the slipway to a mighty splash into the sea. It was very colourful and impressive in those days to see ship launchings.”
Every new ship was a chance at better services for the rural people and traders. The launching of ships were a time to celebrate and it was always a happy occasion.
“And of course Sir Henry ended his career with his revival into shipping: the MV Chebu joint venture with the Autonomous Bougainville Government where he successfully passed on his legacy to a new generation of shipping men and crew.”
Back in the 1960s PNG was a rough frontier. Main sources of earning money were via trading of copra and cocoa to access opportunities to participate in the cash economy. Everyone knew that old ways need to give way to modern things.
In that time Sir Henry realised that the need for shipping services was acute. In building 170 boats at Toboi Shipbuilding Company Ltd over fourteen years between 1958 and 1972 Sir Henry met a big demand and enabled people to benefit from the wider shipping services needed by planters and traders.
During the 60s it was also becoming apparent that the time of wooden ships (Sir Henry’s trade and expertise) was coming to an end.
Typical of Sir Henry he never complained that times were tough or things were changing. Sir Henry simply adopted his business to meet the new era of iron ships in the form of barge services for the New Guinea Islands. As a young man with big family commitments he realistically contemplated that the capital and expertise required to transition from the era of wooden boats to iron barges was too big a step for him to undertake without help from a group of like-minded friends.
Many people dismissed Sir Henry’s ideas as too advanced and unpractical. However, like-minded Australian investors and the Chin Pak shipping (family of Sir Julius Chan) formed a consortium that became the famous Coastal Shipping Company Ltd. He was always happy to be with people who embraced the future without fear and with zest.
“Even in the 1960s the lesson was learned that to survive there must co-operate and bung wantaim to meet challenges of the new era and adopt new technologies taught to us by more advanced nations and of the three shareholder blocks: Australians, Sir Julius and family and Chow family we were the smallest.
“Eventually in 1982 all the other shareholders decided to sell Coastal Shipping to Sir Henry as they all had other big opportunities to chase. That is a story for another time,” Fabian mused.
Sir Henry was a strong advocate that local businesses must be given fair opportunity to trade and benefit from the emerging and growing economy of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, as it was called in those days.
“This seemed to be a difficult theme to implement since independence. He had no sympathy for anyone not prepared to do the hard work (which we call the pumping iron requirement to put on muscle) or learn new techniques,” Fabian added.
“He seemed to have the attitude that if he was able to build his shipbuilding company from his Australian expertise with only eight Pomio boys off the street then he was confident this could be repeated nationwide in the emerging Papua New Guinea.”
“Not many people nowadays are old enough to know the education side of Sir Henry Chow:  serving on the apprentice board and National High Schools. It was there but he was always moving onto a new project without any time to rest on old achievements.”
The Late Sir Henry began and ended his career with his first love, shipping. His life grew to involve more than shipping. But at heart, he was always a shipping man.