In one form or another,

Herbert Walkinshaw devoted his life to the sea.

Born in Glasgow, he was educated at Hillhead High School. On leaving school, he joined Glen & Company, the Glasgow Shipping Company and, at about the same time, joined the Clyde Division of the RNVR as a midshipman. On the outbreak of war, he was mobilised and spent the next seven years at sea. His first ship was a V&W class destroyer, HMS Vivien, in which he served in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Later, as a lieutenant, he

was appointed to the Greek destroyer HMS Adrias as the British Naval Liaison Officer. In July 1943, in an engagement with some enemy E-boats in

the eastern Mediterranean, Walkinshaw was wounded and, until his death, he had a piece of shrapnel in his back which troubled him considerably in later life. For his conduct

during this action, he was awarded the Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts.

Later the same year, Adrias was mined and had her bow blown off, but the captain was able to beach the ship on the Turkish coast. The captain was wounded and then, unusually,

handed over command of the ship to Walkinshaw rather than to the first lieutenant, which would have been the normal practice. The very next day,

however, the captain had recovered sufficiently to take over control of the ship again and therefore Walkinshaw's first command lasted just 24 hours. While the Turks were trying to organise the internment of the ship's company, the ship was made watertight by the crew, so that, during the hours of darkness, the captain was able to re-float the vessel. Adrias then proceeded under her own steam, minus her bow, to Alexandria, where she was eventually repaired. Following this incident, Walkinshaw was mentioned in dispatches.

On coming home to civilian life, Walkinshaw returned to Glen & Company. In 1954, however, he joined Lyle Shipping Company Limited, the Glasgow ship-owners, as manager and began a successful career, becoming a director in 1960, managing director in 1974 and eventually chairman in 1977.

He was often to be seen

seated at his desk before 8am, having walked into the centre of Glasgow from his home in Bearsden.

Lyle began building a fleet of modern self-discharging bulk-carriers in Norway in 1966 and, as a result, Walkinshaw and his colleagues formed many long-lasting friendships there. At Walkinshaw's own insistence, the specification

for these Norwegian ships

provided that every crew

member should have his own cabin with en suite facilities. This high standard of accommodation was a radical innovation at the time.

In 1968, Walkinshaw was one of the principal motivators behind Lyle's decision to

establish a joint management

company with the Glasgow ship-owners, Hogarth & Sons Limited. The new company, which was named Scottish Ship Management Limited, took on practically all the employees of both Lyle & Hogarth and Walkinshaw was appointed managing director. As such, he oversaw its development into an international concern with representation in Australia and a subsidiary company in Hong Kong.

When oil was discovered in the North Sea, Walkinshaw with foresight realised that there would be a demand for supply vessels to service the North Sea platforms. A new company called Seaforth Maritime was formed in Aberdeen, in which Lyle's & Hogarth's jointly took a majority stake, and Walkinshaw was then appointed a founding director. The company rapidly became one of the country's foremost offshore servicing and contracting companies.

In 1975, Lyle Shipping expanded its management team to even further develop its oil service interests and floated Lyle Offshore Group Limited. Although independent of Lyle Shipping Company, it was arranged that the new

company would be managed by Lyle's and Walkinshaw became its chairman.

In reality, Walkinshaw had two careers which ran in

parallel.

On his return home from the war, he had rejoined the Clyde Division RNVR which, in 1958, became the Clyde Division RNR. He devoted practically all his spare time to serving in the Naval Reserve with his usual energy and enthusiasm and he had a distinguished career culminating in his appointment as commanding officer of the Clyde Division in the rank of captain. For his exceptional services, Walkinshaw was awarded the OBE in 1958. He was also awarded the VRD and bar.

Although a quiet and unassuming man, Walkinshaw had great qualities of leadership and he gave unstinting practical help and wise advice to those with whom he came into contact. This was especially so in the case of the people junior to him in both his business and naval careers. A man of

unfailing integrity, Walkinshaw always had a welcoming smile and a cheerful sense of humour.

On retiring, Walkinshaw moved first to Kilmore in Argyll and then, for the last 17 years, to Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, where he became a familiar figure with his dog out on their daily walk.

Walkinshaw did not marry and is survived by his brother, John, who lived near him in Aboyne.

Herbert Aubrey Walkinshaw; born March 19, 1919, died February 18, 2004.