Sea Lawyer

Washington's Warren G. Magnuson stood up on the floor of the Senate to read a letter. Written by a U.S. merchant seaman to an officer with the Seventh Fleet off the China coast, it said: "I am on a ship I am ashamed to be aboard . . . We are blockade running [to] Communist China. We are hauling thousands of drums of oil and gasoline . . . and steel armor plate, tools and parts to the damned Reds . . . If you guys sight us you ought to blow this [ship] sky-high even though she flies the American flag."

No names were mentioned in the Senate, but Isbrandtsen Co. Inc.'s rough, tough President Hans Isbrandtsen did not deny that the ship in question was his Flying Cloud. Isbrandtsen didn't like the author of the letter, though. He called him a "crackpot." This week, however, Senator Magnuson was planning to investigate the sailor's charges.

"We Do Not Change." It was not that the committee, or any other arm of the U.S. Government, could do much about it. Isbrandtsen was violating no order of the U.S. Government, and had broken no point of international law. He had merely taken advantage of the inordinate confusion of Washington's Far East policy. Isbrandtsen is a sea lawyer who goes on the assumption that it is possible to do anything which is not expressly prohibited by law.

Last year, the Flying Cloud and the Flying Arrow (another Isbrandtsen ship) were fired on and damaged while running the Nationalist blockade of Communist China (see cut). Because the U.S. did not recognize the blockade, Isbrandtsen demanded, in full-page ads in New York newspapers, that the State Department uphold freedom of the seas and give him protection by U.S. warships. Earlier, Isbrandtsen ships had been seized in the East Indies by the Dutch (over export license technicalities) and in the Mediterranean by the Egyptians (on suspicion of carrying war goods to Israel). The Dutch have since made a settlement for damages; the U.S. State Department is negotiating for Isbrandfceen with the Egyptians.

Big. steely-eyed Hans Isbrandtsen fervently denies that his ships have ever carried "contraband," although in modern war there are few goods which are not helpful in some way to a warring nation. Says he: "Our business is solely to deliver the goods where we have contracted to deliver them. We do not change [our] schedule because of rumors of danger and possible unlawful interference."

"He's Usually Right." By sticking to these rules and capitalizing on the fine points of international law, free-enterprising, free-trading Hans Isbrandtsen has become the biggest independent U.S. shipper. He owns ten ships with a replacement value of $20 million, has about 40 others under charter. Much of his cargo carrying is done for his own account: Isbrandtsen trades in such varied commodities as steel, sugar, rubber and grain, and buys coffee which he packages and sells (as "Isbrandtsen 26") in New York and neighboring states.

Isbrandtsen rides his crews hard, insists on quick turnarounds and a minimum of shore leave, is considered by many maritime men the most efficient U.S. shipper. Other shippers make no bones about their dislike of him because he 1) accepts no Government subsidies ("I prefer to earn my own money"), and 2) has fought long & hard against the conferences by which most U.S. shippers' rates are set. His most effective weapon to get business is to undercut the conference rates. Said one conference shipper: "He's the smartest damn guy in the whole business. You can hardly get a lawyer to go against him, because he's usually right."

"Almost a Scoundrel." The product of generations of Danish seafarers, Isbrandtsen came to the U.S. just before World War I to help start a shipping agency in New York. Within a week, young Hans had chartered a ship, loaded it with grain, and sent it to sea. Later he formed a partnership with a cousin who was in the shipping business in Denmark. The business flourished until World War II (Isbrandtsen became naturalized in 1936), but then their ships were taken over by the allied governments. After that, Isbrandtsen began to buy and charter ships on his own hook, and brought his two sons into business with him. Now he intends to go right on running his ships wherever he wants, although he realizes that this policy has made him unpopular. Says he: "You are almost a scoundrel to be in business these days."

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