Career
Limited. and the Patrick Lincolnshire of cargo ships. He began his successful career by working his way to America at the age of 13. He worked for two years in a sailing ship, deserted in Hong Kong and joined an American sailer in Japan.
In 1913 he was master of the Currie Lincolnshire steamer Gracchus.
At the outbreak of the First World War he joined the Royal Navy and in 1917 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. he took over command of the sloop HMS Torch, the last sailing vessel in the British Navy. Accordng to his Senate promotional advertisement (which also had him running away to sea at the age of 12) he was promoted to Commander in 1920.
In 1919 he founded Patrick Steamship Company Limited. with the purchase of the ship Timaru, the ss Skylark and the three-masted schooner Abemama.
These vessels were ideally suited for shipping timber.
A major financial backer was a "(Tasmanian) north-west coast produce firm". Patrick Steamships Limited. worked the coastal trade between the major east coast cities at rates below those of the Interstate Ship Owners Federation, who retaliated by matching his charges and restricting his access to coal fuel. The company went into liquidation in 1924.
James Patrick and Company was founded 1924 with the Mawatta.
He gave his other ships Scots names, including the Carlisle, Cardross and Carsdale. The company worked outside the Commonwealth Steamship Owners Association which had agreed freight rates, and charged the same rates as the old Patrick Steamships.
The Association again retaliated by reducing its rates on those routes covered by James Patrick and Company
He was chairman of directors of Anderson and Company of Sydney, Nixon Smith Shipping and Wool Dumping Company, and the Circular Quay Stevedoring Company of Brisbane.
He was also a director of the Mercantile Mutual Insurance Company
He ran a cattle property at Moss Vale, New South Wales.
He sat (unsuccessfully) for a New South Wales Senate seat in 1940. He was an avid and successful big game hunter and photographer. They had two sons: (James Alexander) Ronald Patrick (21 March 1905 – ) of Killara, New South Wales and Kenneth Joseph Patrick (4 October 1907 – ) of Mosman, New South Wales.
