The Russian Rockefellers by Tolf Robert W.;

Author:Tolf, Robert W.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
Published: 1976-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Karl Vasilievich Hagelin

Emanuel could concentrate on the summit meetings and work closely with Olsen—supporting his efforts to revitalize European sales organizations—because he was spared the time and trouble of keeping a close watch on developments in Baku, of doing what his father had been forced to do when creating the empire. He had taken seriously that advice of his uncle Alfred that “if you try to do everything yourself in a very large concern the result will be that nothing will be done properly.”1 And his gift for assessment and recruitment of key personnel meant that he could delegate tasks with full confidence that they would be competently carried out. Nowhere was this more important than in Baku where the manager had the most taxing and challenging job in the company—it was recognized as the central nervous system of Nobel Brothers. And at no time did that system have a more capable chief at its head than Karl Wilhelm Hagelin.

Karl Vasilievich, as he was known to the Russians, had had years of firsthand experience in Baku as well as in the regions of the Volga. He knew the docks, repair yards, railroad terminals, storage depots, the machine shops in Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Nizhni-Novgorod. As apprentice, administrator, manager, and then director he was a frequent visitor to those installations, refreshing that knowledge, renewing friendships. The value of his experience demonstrated itself when he was placed in charge of the Volga district. There was then a general feeling among company directors that they should not put more time and money into the water routes, that Nobel already had enough tankers and barges, that additional vessels could be chartered whenever needed. But when charter rates increased and the full impact of the government’s tight control and manipulation of railroad freight rates was felt the Petersburg directors gave serious thought to expanding their fleet. They turned to Hagelin on the Volga.

Karl Vasilievich was a child of the Volga. His boyhood had been spent on the shores of Russia’s great trade artery watching the endless stream of boats carrying corn from Podolia, Astrakhan sturgeon, tea from China, Siberian iron, Bokhara cotton, Persian carpets, grindstones from the Urals, samovars from Tula. He knew the towns and villages, the shippers, captains, engineers, the seasonal changes, depths of the channels, costs of chartering, the way to deal with ship crews. Under his command, with his certain knowledge of the need for independent barge transport, the number of boats flying the Nobel pennant gradually increased. The board was not completely convinced, however; there were many other demands for capital and Emanuel never wanted to overextend. Hagelin’s new barge construction and purchases were carefully monitored. In only one area was he given full rein.

He had conceived the idea of converting one of the Swedish-built barges to a propeller-driven steam tanker. A propeller craft would be lighter, less expensive, and provide more storage space than the paddle wheelers then in use. But no one knew whether or not the propeller machinery—thus far restricted to sloops—could be adapted to a larger shallow-draft ship.

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