Salve Christian Frederik Salvesen (1827–1911) was born in
Mandal,
Vest-Agder,
Norway. Christian Salvesen was the son of Norwegian merchant shipowner, Thomas Salvesen (1787–1853). In 1846, his older brother Johan Theodor Salvesen (1820–1865) had gone into the partnership of Turnbull, Salvesen and Company with George W. Turnbull and established an affiliate office in
Leith near
Edinburgh,
Scotland. The oldest brother, Carl Emil Salvesen (1816–1877) also moved to Leith but his role in the company is unclear. Christian Salvesen joined the partnership after migrating from Mandal in 1851. He lived and operated from 20 Charlotte Street in
Leith (now known as Queen Charlotte Street). In 1868, Christian Salvesen, together with
Wilhelm August Thams (1812–1884) founded the mining company Ørkedals Mining Company and bought a number of small mines around
Løkken,
Norway. In 1872, Christian Salvesen left the partnership and set up Christian Salvesen & Co., based in Leith. Initially, the company operated as shipping and forwarding agents,
shipbrokers and timber merchants. Christian Salvesen & Co. began buying steamers in the 1880s, and in 1886 started a line to
Stavanger, with runs along the Norwegian coast. In 1883, Christian Salvesen, delegated management of shipping operations to his eldest sons, Thomas and Frederick, who became partners in the firm. In the early 1900s, the company developed significant interests in
whaling, initially in the
Arctic, and then in the
Antarctic. steamship that Salvesen bought in 1907, and sold in 1916 It established and operated from a base at
Leith Harbour (named after Salvesen's base in Scotland) on the island of
South Georgia, to the south east of the
Falkland Islands. In 1908, in partnership with
Christian Thams, Christian Salvesen also invested in the construction of the first electric railway from
Løkken to
Thamshavn in Norway in support of their mining interests. In the years 1950 to 1962, the whaling ships
Southern Harvester and
Southern Venturer belonged to the company. These ships were floating factories, and the core of a whaling expedition. Each expedition consisted of a floating factory as well as a team of whale catchers which were equipped with an onboard hangar which housed a
Westland Whirlwind helicopter which was used for whale spotting. One of the company's whale catchers,
Southern Actor, now lies at the
whaling museum in
Sandefjord, Norway, and is preserved as a floating
museum ship. They ceased whaling in 1963 and ceased shipping in 1990, thereafter concentrating on road haulage. As the boom in whaling ended after
World War II, Salvesen moved into the
commercial trawler business and also bought a
cold store in
Grimsby. It traded primarily in housebuilding, general food freezing and oil before moving back into the transport business by buying
Swift Services. Christian Salvesen's house stood at
Goldenacre in Edinburgh, on Ferry Road opposite Inverleith Row, and closing the vista along that road. A huge villa from around 1865 set in extensive gardens, it was demolished in the 1960s and replaced by Edinburgh's tax office, that in turn was demolished in the early 21st century, and is now a housing site. His offices were on the south side of Bernard Street, Leith, in a building that doubled as the Norwegian Consulate for Edinburgh (now a Chinese restaurant). He is buried in Rosebank Cemetery on Pilrig Street in Leith. ==Family==