Around 40 years ago my father starting breaking up old lorries and scrap-metal. Scrap dealing led to the infamous old mod auctions where we fell for 'Royal Navy Spares'. The incredible quality of materials and design made it the best kit in the world bar none. We bought the spares with a view to scrapping them all rather than polishing them up.
 
Then the Canberra went to Pakistan for scrap in the 1997, and we went to the ship-breakers for the first time - the 'elephants graveyard' for a scrap man. It was around the same time that the Royal Navy and consequently its surplus gear shrank dramatically and we were looking for a new avenues. On that beach we found 80 ships and heard rumours of another 200 ships being broken in India. Our frank, honest style of business and our background quickly earned the respect of the ship-breakers and the friendship of good family-run agents with whom we could trust.
 
The jobs were physically dangerous (ladders are sometimes 100ft and some ships have over 1000 tons of asbestos onboard) and dangerous financially. We paid them up front and we'd go home and wait for the containers. It's still the same even these days. By having a go at dealing with whole contents of ships from the 'Gio Ponti sconces' to the lifeboat oars we were able to strike huge deals with the ship-owners and secure items at prices low enough to gamble on and bring here to the Western market. The prices were also low enough to cope with the inevitable teething problems of doing business in a notoriously difficult place. It took us 10 years to get it right.
 
Funnily enough in the early days we only went for anything made of bronze and brass because we figured if it all went wrong we could throw it in the scrap. In fact, we would stride past what is now millions of pounds worth of mid-century design; murals, reliefs, marquetry, furniture, fittings and paintings until we found something 'made of brass'. It didn't take us too long to realise runs of chairs were as important at as runs of passage lights
 
During the 2000s fire regs on ships changed completely. The last of the lovely old ships, that had panelled staircases etc, went up the beach. That was our heyday and lots of that old gear is still locked away on our old sheds.
 
The early ships we were working on were literally huge functional sculptures. They contained the work of the best designers, craftsmen, engineers & materials that you could dream of. The liners were floating hotels where the fixtures and fittings had to be not only the epitome of style but stand up to the rigours of marine standards and strength. Every Warship was full of what are now iconic shapes, styles and designs - items crafted with 'no expense spared' to satisfy the demands of War. On the old ships that had survived without a re-fit such as RMS Windsor Castle, we could salvage as much as; 2 tons of Mappin & Webb table ware, weighed on a truck on a weighbridge, 10,000 pcs of crockery 3,000 blankets, 200 doors, 10 tons of Burmese teak decking and handrail, 2,000 lights, 5,000 cabin fittings, 300 bunk-beds… the list goes on and on.
 
Add to that an interest in history and design, the thrill of the chase, the dropping everything to see a ship beach and secure a deal on the whole lot, the direct link into the gloves biggest industries and you have a 'general merchants' dream business. It's not only ships that we deal with. We can't resist the big and fun stuff. We are well known for keeping helicopters, rockets, coastal defence guns and the like in stock.
 
We worked across the globe from the start. UK ship breaking was too small to give us the quantities we needed. To find the last of the old ships we had to go as far as the Mediterranean, Far East, far corners of the Sub-Continent and the Americas. Since we became the largest stockholders of original marine antiques and decor we are a 'one-stop shop' for marine themed projects, films & ventures, large and small, all over and now that lighting has become a forte of ours, we have gone even further afield and into an even wider variety client base.
 
These days it's all about the lighting. Once the old classic ships had gone, we decided to move onto different types of ships. Even though we had huge stocks of the classic old treasure we were still missing the good old 'bronze n brass' and the thrill of stripping ships. I decided to inspect my first super-tanker which was a 100,000 ton floating factory. I found huge runs of iron and aluminium lights and aluminium portholes that I thought would make fantastic mirrors and tables.
 
Although they had very little scrap value compared to their brass counterparts, it was worth a gamble and I bought my first container of industrial lighting and aluminium fittings. The trade immediately reacted to warmth of them compared to the eastern bloc fittings, and of course the low weight and prices.
 
Now, 4 years later, these lights are helping designers win awards and the trade make good profit, whist bringing in new custom. We witness daily the wide appeal these lights have. With the help of retailers, we sell even more of our unique lighting, mirrors and fittings and always welcome more trade customers to stock our products.
 
Mark Jameson, Trinity Marine: see the Salvo directory link below for full contact details.