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LEONARD SHROCK PASSES
By Bob Hale
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July 27, 2004. Leonard Shrock, of Captain's Nautical Supplies in Seattle, died May 26 at age 90. Leonard was a superb compass adjuster, and he had a passion for charts. He was one of those people who always was there and one assumed always would be. It's hard to believe he's gone. In early spring this year I chatted with him at the store, as he bent over a table updating British Admiralty charts by hand, as he had for years and years.
Leonard was a gentleman, a gentleman of the old school. His manner was courtly, and at work he invariably wore a suit, white shirt and tie -- whether he was in the store helping customers or on the bridge of a boat, adjusting the compass.
In his ethics he was even more of a gentleman of the old school. Once, early in the life of Robert Hale & Co., we fell into a cash crunch and had to ask some of our larger customers for early payment on their accounts. Some said no, others said yes. Leonard was one of those who said yes, and a sizable check was in our office the next day. I thanked him immediately, but he waved it off and never once brought it up again. I never asked again, either.
With Leonard's example in my thoughts, to this day when a supplier needs early payment from us I always oblige -- once -- just as Leonard did for me. And I never use this act as a bargaining tool, just as Leonard never did with me.
I have before me a paper from Captain's, detailing how in 1947 Leonard Shrock established his own chart and instrument store at Fishermen's Terminal in Seattle; how he and a partner, Carl F. Johnson, purchased the venerable Max Kuner Company; how the company name was changed to Captain's Nautical Supplies; how he bought out Johnson to become sole owner.
This history is important, but to me Leonard Shrock will always be a superb gentleman, both in his manners and his deeds, who left his imprint on the Seattle waterfront. v
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