Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-30

committee. carefully chosen for their trustworthiness, these agents dispatch every item of information of interest to the shipping community to Lloyd's by the quickest possible route, tcle- graphic or otherwise. The arrivals and departures of vessels from the various ports, the fact that they have been sig naled at sea, the occurrence of wrecks and casualties, are known at Lloyd's within an incredibly short time. a shipwreck being often announced within fifteen minutes of its happen Ing, while prior to the establishment of telegraphs the government was largely dependent upon Lloyd's for early news as to what was going on in the various parts of the world. All .his intelligence thus gathered and re- ceived is at once embodied for refer ence in the Index, gigantic con- 1 pilation comprised in twelve folios and kept for consultation in the reading room. Thanks to the Index, an under writer can learn by search which is only a matter of moments where and in what condition is every vessel in the British mercantile marine and great number of foreign ships. Indeed. the movements of some 100000 craft are chronicled in these volumes from hour to hour by large staff. Side by side with the Index is Lloyd's Cap. tains' Register, biographical die tionary of all certificated masters of the merchant service, containing every detail of their careers since the time they received their certificates. By or der of the government. all information that reaches the state registrar gen. eral of shipping and seamen is at once furnished to Lloyd's, so that the die tionary, in which over 10000 pages are posted up in the course of the year, is as complete and as perfect as un- ceasing revision can make it. l may add that there are about 10000 certifi- cated masters of the British mercan- tile marine. -.
 In classifying and registering ships Lloyd's uses various marks and signs. Thus ships in the first class are noted by the distinctive marks "A l." But if the ship is set down as "A at Lloyd's''. 1t means that the vessel is not In good order and not satisfactory risk. Therefore the addition of the words "at Lloyd's" is a stigma of inferiority and may be taken as an indication that further information of detrimental character will be furnished regarding the ship in question 'at Lloyd's." It would require too much space to give in detail here the meaning of the vari- ous letters and abbreviations used by Lloyd's to designate the rating of the ship without exposing themselves to legal action by the owners, but l may merely mention that the addition of q Maltese cross signifies that the vesse! has been built under special survey and is therefore particularly safe risk.
 On the ground floor in a special room is installed an inquiry office, at which the friends and relatives of those that go down to the sea in ships can learn without charge whatever is known at Lloyds of the whereabouts and safety of the vessels which carry their hus- bands. their brothers, their sons or their lovers. Close by Is the chamber of horrors" where the telegrams giv- ing details of all disasters are posted up, whence the name of the room.
 Although primarily organized with view to marine insurance. Lloyd's ex- tends its operations to all sorts of other risks. Indeed, 1t will underwrite al. most anything. It will insure against burglary, against its raining on cer- tain day. In fact, mere enumcra- ton of the most curious risks would be a wearying task. When insurance is effected at Lloyd's the procedure is diff ferent from that of an ordinary insur- ance company. for Lloyd's does not insure as a body. the business being done by individual members. These members split up the risk. Each takes a small portion only, thus insuring sta bllity by the extension and consequent curtailment of the risk as far as each individual is concerned. The names of these members are indorsed on the policy, together with the amount of risk undertaken. They are written on the policy one under the other-hence the term of "underwriter."-New York Tribune.