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Personal Sketches of Marine Men Thomas F. Baker, President, Foreign Commerce Club, New York By Ben K. Price ECENTLY elected president of the Foreign Commerce club of New York, he is well known by shippers in both North and South America. OR thirty-one years he has been as- sociated with an old New York ship- ping firm representing the best tradi- tions of ocean shipping. E HAS launched a vigorous pro- gram to promote and to protect foreign commerce of the port of New York against all encroachments. HE recent election of Thomas IF. Baker to the presidency of the Foreign Commerce club of the port of New York comes as fitting tribute to a man not only long prominent in New York shipping circles, but, by virtue of his particu- lar identification with the west coast trade of South America, well-known to shippers of both continents. He has been affiliated with marine shipping for 39 years, beginning as a lad of 15, serving first for six years with one New York shipper and then for 31 years with the organization with which he is now associated as vice president, Wessel Duval & Co. Inc., 90 Broad street, New York city, an organization first conceived 109 years ago. With this background, he brings to his new position a valuable knowledge, combining years of practical ex- perience with the best traditions of ocean shipping. Mr. Baker was born in Brooklyn, and his first contact with shipping was with Lamnan & Kemp, New York, whose foreign shipments extended to the far corners of the world. Having thus acquired a student’s knowledge of general shipping, he entered the employ of Wessel Duval & Co. Ine. as assistant freight manager of freighting and six years later was placed in charge of chartering tonnage and freight transportation. In 1923, he became a partner and in this connection it is interesting to note that over the period of 53 years preceding, the company had taken 17 men from its staff into partnership relations, a record in which the firm rightfully takes much pride. When the company changed its partnership structure to that of a corporation in 1932, Mr. Baker became vice president. One of his associates, P. W. Alexander, became president, and others, B. E. Hood, S. W. Spring and E. Eastman, vice president. Guil- lerine Purcell, who had been associated with the company 45 years, became chairman of the board. As an executive, Mr. Baker is active in the manage- ment of the company that was founded by Augustus Hemenway, a native of Maine, who first began his busi- ness career by trading between the ports of that state and the West Indies. The story of the company for 6 number of years thereafter is largely that of the achieve- ments of Mr. Hemenway; the story of a young man, who at the age of 20, extended his already flourishing busi- ness with the West Indies to include the River Plata— this in 1825, the year recognized as the first in the his- tory of the present organization—and shortly after, the west coast of South America. The extension of trading to the west coast hinged on the incident of a blockade at the port of Buenos Aires. Young Hemenway, sailing as supercargo on the MERCURY, with his merchandise of flour and provisions and upon finding himself unable to land at his intended port of destination, Buenos Aires, proceeded around the Horn to Valparaiso, where he sold his cargo to advantage and there loaded a cargo of copper ore for Boston. Long since in the years that have elapsed the com- pany has extended its west coast business to include not only Chile, but Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, with branches in these countries, Incidentally, it is noteworthy that possibly the first attempt to maintain steam communication between the United States and the west coast of South America was marked by the operation of two steamers, CITY OF VALPA- RAISO and CitTy or SANTIAGO, of 1274 and 1296 tons net register, respectively, built especially for Mr. Hemenway, who foresaw that the change from sail to steam was in- evitable, and which vessels were operated by the firm as his agents. These ships were built in 1875, but it was not until 1892 that the West Coast line of the companv dispatched its first steamer—the Arrica, of 1099 tons net register, In addition to heading the Foreign Commerce club Mr. Baker has numerous other affiliations. For several years he has been a manager of the New York Producc exchange and is now serving his third term as vice presi- dent of that organization. He is a director of the Mari- time exchange; also a member of the board of visitors, of the New York State Merchant Marine academy, the Traffic club and the New York Board of Trade. Mr. Baker is now hard at work on a vigorous program to carry out the principal objective of the Foreign Com- merce club, which is to promote and preserve the com- merce of the port of New York from the growing en- croachment of ambitious ports in other parts of the country. MARINE REVIEwW—July, 1934 35