What's different between the two men is that Vanderbilt sold the shipping interests that funded his railroad ventures in the early 1860s--when he was nearly 70 years old.

FORBES: Gates Among The Titans

Essar is part of a conglomerate with interests in shipping, steel, oil and power.

ECONOMIST: Indian lending

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Telecom, in India since 1992, decided in 2000 to partner with Essar Group's Shashi and Ravi Ruia, ambitious brothers who had turned a small family construction business into a conglomerate with interests in shipping, steel, oil and gas.

FORBES: The Ruias Return

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said "smart sanctions" might include a ban on arms sales to Iran, tough UN shipping inspections and "action against the interests of the Iranian revolutionary guard corps".

BBC: Foreign Office questions