FIFTY YEARS AT LLOYDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 75, 25 March 1912, Page 2

FIFTY YEARS AT LLOYDS.

RETIRING UNDERWRITER’S REMINISCENCES. Few people realise the important part which marine insurance plays in the shipping world, and consequently in the distribution of the various commodities which are a necessary part of : pur well-being, a part with which we are likely to become more familiar should , the present embittered relations between the miners and the coalowners result in a national coal war. Dependent, therefore, as we are for the,grater portion of our supplies on otir “vast overseas commerce, it is safe to say there is scarcely an article of food, clothing, or shelter which has not, at some time or other, formed the subject matter of a policy issued by a marine insurance company, or by an underwriter at Lloyd’s. Only those who have daily intercourse with this great army of workers can appreciate the degree of organisation which enables these big institutions to equalise the losses occasioned by disasters at sea. Lloyd’s ~has ’(always been ready to move with ' times,' and to adjust itself to the requirements ,of the shipowners and the ]>tibli,c| and, generally speaking, has given a lead to the more conservative insurance offices. In order to ascertain whether any notable changes had come over the j spirit of this great business of late years,,’’.;; ;a-. j newspaper representative sought the views of a leading and popular underwriter, who has just retired after being associated with Lloyd’s for nearly half a century. “As is generally known,” he said iin reply to a preliminary question, “the losses of different years vary in magnitude, and to strike a proper average a more or jless extended period, say ten years, should be reviewed. In marine insurance, we are accustomed to cycles of lean and fat years, the former for the most part -predominating in the porportion of seven to three.

“I remember especially the year 1872, when in the course of a few days no less than three steamers bringing, valuable cargoes from the East ‘ were totally wrecked. The names of two were Queen Elizabeth and the Woosung, but the identity of the third has escaped me. At that time, there was an approach to a panic; but the market soon weathered the storm, and no difficulties arose. ‘ ‘The year 1890 provided 'another very bad period.) ' A Dutch steamer called the Prins Frederik, carrying nearly £IOO,OOO in specie besides a valuable cargo, was run down off Ushant, and everything lost. This followed on several other disasters, one of which was the burning of the National steamer Egypt, the s.s. Erin of the same line being previously missing, and the wrecking of two Gulf liners. '

... ',. I , “lii the preyious. year a great ’hurricane in the Atlantic brought disaster to no fewer than eight’ vessels. The steamers Port Melbourne, - Oberon, Laughton, Croft, Lora Poster, and Arona, bound from the United States were all missing at the same time, and Vwere all supposed to have been pooped by the Atlantic, for .they were never afterwards heard, of. The steamers Almida and Rossmore, going in the opposite directions, were all lost. “One extraordinary feature during more recent years has been the many instances in which the crack boat of a lieet has been lost. Por example, there occurs to me the case of the Waratah, Pericles, Merida, Lakotn, Bavarian, Australia, Tantallon Castle, Morse Prince, Russia, Korea, Star of Japan, and the Lisboa. linen of the bigger sailing ships which have been totally lost we have the Pruessen, La Prance, and Liverpool. “The days of the sailing ship, however, appear to be practically over. Steam has gradually driven the windjammer off the seas, except in certaih trades, and curiously enough, in longvoyages and coasting. They linger still in the nitrate trade, and in other directions carry bulky goods of small value. . “I can recall the great effect which the opening of the Suez Canal had on our trade to the East. Underwriters had always looked askance at the dangers of the Red Sea, but since the days of the canal opening the business passing through it has proved a gold mine. The rate to Calcutta, which at the outset was 25s per cent, has now dropped to 5s 3d, and the rate to Alexandria from 3s 4d to Is 3d. “Of course, in my time wo have had many war scares and rumours of war. When Russia advanced on Penjdeh in 1836 there was a rush to do war risks, and some underwriters made a good fortune by -accepting these risks with great freedom. On the other hand, although there may have been money made out of the Spanish-Am-crican war, in many cases they lost heavily over the Russo-Japanese war, owing to the wholesale captures which were made by both belligerents.” Speaking in conclusion of the future of marine insurance, our informant declared ho was weary of the repeated suggestions of the value of combination. “My own view,” he said, “is that competitive methods are vital to our business. “I would much rather that underwriters integrated themselves into groups and gave their whole time and intellect to the study of definite questions of trade. In this way they would be recognised as specialists, and thus be able to exchange their surplus business which they had put on a remunerative basis for that i controlled by other groups.” \