LLOYD'S REGISTER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 38, 14 February 1930, Page 15

LLOYD'S REGISTER

WHEN IT WAS COPIED

A WAR-TIME STORY

In a handsome room within a massive building of Fcnchurch stroot, iv tho heart of London—a room so quiet that not a murmur of the thronging traffic can be heard in it —a man whoso name'! is known all over the. world has just been honoured. Mr. Andrew Scott, most wonderful of veterans—writes an "Evening News" correspondent—is the secretary of .Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Recently lits celebrated his sixtieth year in the Register's service. The committee—a body' of shipowners, underwriters, ! shipbuilders, and engineers—has made him a presentation to commemorate a great day. Some other men would be thinking of retiring to a life of ease after six long decades of work for one institution: But not Mr. Scott. To-day lie earned on with' his job as if nothing had .happened . . . Perhaps no ouo knows as much about Lloyd's Register, its romantic history, and romantic work, as this veteran of JTenehurch street. Here, for instance, ia one little secret Mr. Scott has revealed—a war-time story: "Lloyd's Eegister of Shipping, as the recognised authority furnishing particulars of tho world's shipping, was naturally very much sought after throughout the period of tho war, and the utmost precautions were adopted in order to avoid its being transmitted to enemy countries. "In addition to making the customary inquiries of the proper authorities before sending abroad, any copies of the Eegister, the Society instituted the most careful inquiries in every caso regarding the bona' fides of alll subscribers to the book in neutral countries, in order to ensure, as far as possible; that the Eegister would be employed solely for the personal information of the subscriber, and would not be passed into enemy hands, "Al AT LLOYD'S." "By this: moans the society was in & position to refuse, to. issue, copies in a very large number of cases where -there appeared to be any doubt. in :tbo matter. ■ ■. "In spite of these precautions, howover, a copy of each of the-Begisters for 1915-16 ana 1916-17 seems to have reached Germany, where the volumes, each of nearly 1500 pages royal quarto, were photographed page by page, and reproduced for the information of the German- Admiralty, and particularly for the use of the commanders of subinariness. Anyone .who is connected with printing will be able to grasp the painstaking labour involved in carrying out this task which would be hardly credible had we not these copies of the volumes before us." The work of Lloyd's is the grading of ships in various degrees of merit. The famous phrase, "Al at Lloyd's," involves responsibilities and tasks •which are world-wide. ' How does Lloyd's Register fix the standing of vessels in the eyes of the shipping world? To begin with it specifies roughly the requirements that •will have to be met if ships are to be graded as Al. It did that in the days of wooden shipsj it has done it through the eras of iron vessels and of composite vessels right into the present age of" steel ones. It-passes judgment on the plans of ships before the keel is laid down. It inspects, tests, and stamps the materials to be used. _ It supervises every stage of the ship's construction on the docks. Aha when ,the ship is in service, she is periodically, overhauled and surveyed. > & STAFF OF' EXPERTS. Lloyd's experts are all over the world.' As Mr. Scott has said: "It has gathered together in its service a staff of ship surveyors, engineer surveyors, steel testing surveyors, forging inspectors, and ' electrical engineers, .•which includes some of the best brains in the profession, and which now numbers 413, of whom 215 are stationed in this country ana 198 abroad, there being 28 surveyors iv the United States, nearly 100 on the Continent, 29 in India ana the Far East, 14 in Australia, nine iv South America, and eight in Africa." And Lloya 's is not run for profit. It | is run for the benefit of the shipping ! industry as a whole, and its centurylong record is one of which any organisation in the world might be proud. It moves with the times, too. It is now interested in the air as well as in the sea. ' _ Only the otlfer day it was announced that Lloyd's has formed an Aviation Committee, which will presumably classify aircraft just as shipping is already classified. Soon one may read as a matter of course that an airship is "Al at Lloyd's."