A1 AT LLOYD'S.

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 24

A 1 AT LLOYD'S.

ri J. y .i Oftan thß exP««»ion "Al at Lloyd's h hoard, but few people ar« nware of the real significance of tha phrase, Most people know-that it ig a term.used in connection with shipping. As a matter of fact, it i» impossible to think of tha mercantile marine without f loyd s. Lloyd's, -of course, ig not nn insurance company, It ig simply a combination of individual mambors, each bound by common rules. In other words, Lloyd's does not insure as a body, all busmesg being transacted by' individual members. ' ; These members divide the rink, each member taking a small portion only. . , Thus, in the case of a policy for £1000 it is quite.probable that the risk would be split up between ; ten members. As the signatures are written on the policy one under the other,-the meaning of the teiS L "underwriter" becomes apparent. While Lloyd's is mostly engaged in marine insurance,, still every kind of risk ib undertaken; practically the members will insure any person agaihsty any imaginable risk. Sea insurance, by the way, is by far the oldest form of insurance; fire' and life insurance are comparatively new compared with the form of insuring against the perils of the sea. The combined capital of the underwriters of Lloyd's amounts to some million pounds,, and it is the boast of/the corporation that it has never refused to pay a genuine claim, even in cases where it has not been legally responsible. In order to conduct its business, it is convenient for Lloyd's to classify and register ships. Ships of the first class are denoted^by the well-known mark, Al, the "A" having] reference to the quality of the ship, arid the "1" to the quality of the equipment. Only the best ships are classed Al.