Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-21
TITANIC CLAIMS QUICKLY MET.
There Was But Little Red Tape About
Insurance Liability.

There Was But Little Red Tape About
Insurance Liability.
Although the sinking Of the Titanic
involved the largest total loss the ma
rine underwriters have ever had to
meet from single disaster, at the
close Of the week practically all OF
the policies written had been met
Proof of loss was obtainable as soon
as the surviving officers reached New
York, and since then collection has
been merely a matter Of routine. Ag-
gregate property loss Is placed by the
Spectator at $s,420,000, and that insur-
ance authority divides this total into
$S,000,00o for the vessel, 100000 for
the cargo and $1,000,000 for personal
effects. Marine insurance totalling
$6.0O0.oO0 on the property Is divided in
Sc, 100000 on the vessel, 100000 on the
cargo and 100000 on the personal ef-
fects. Life and accident insurance,
which must be paid on the deaths of
the insured among 1885 persons who
were drowned Is more difficult to es-
innate because Of the many inaccura-
cies in the names Of the missing and
the difficulty Of Identifying individual
names with those on the various life
and accident companies.
Lacking final returns, the Spectator
prints estimates Of their losses receiv-
ed from 11s life insurance companies
and forty -eight accident insurance
companies which aggregate $2,124,001
on life policies and $1,564,000 on acci-
dent policies, but the journal in sum-
ming up puts the probable life insur-
ance loss at s4.O0o.0O0O and the acct
dent insurance loss at $2,000,000.
| Nearly all the life and accident in
surance companies in reporting refer
to the difficulties of Identifying the
lost passengers with the names car
ried on their lists. In any large insur-
ance company there are many holders
of policies whose names are identical.
Further than that in any long list Of
persons such as the roll Of the missing
among the Titanic's passengers, simi-
lar names are bound to be found on
the card indexes of the big life insur-
ance companies and It becomes neces-
sary to check the possible losses up by
obtaining the addresses Of the missing
and other data by which they may be
identified with the actual holders Of
the policies.
None Of the companies Is making
any difficulties about paying policies
of those who are known to have SAIL
ed on the Titanic and who were not
among those brought in by the Car
pathia, but. as the formalities involved
in establishing identities are much
greater than those In proving cargo
losses the payment of the life and ac-
cident policies will be slower than has
been the settlement Of the marine
losses.
The current number of the Specta-
tor thus sums up the position OF the
life and accident companies from
which reports have been received:
1T will be some time before the life
companies are able to total up the ex-
act amount Of their losses, because no.
tices are still being received that they
carried insurance on those who lost
their lives. Losses to. individual COM
panics range from a few hundred dol
lcrs to almost $1,000,000. This latter
amount falls to the Travellers OF Hart
ford, which will have the greatest loss
under life and accident policies
Procedure in the collection Of ma
rine policies Is Of the greatest simplic-
ity. When the surviving officers OF
the lost Titanic gathered at the Wal
dorf on Friday. April 10, four days af-
ter the wreck, for the first hearing Of
the senatorial investigating committee
they signed the official protest, which
is all the proof marine underwriters re-
auire. This paper set forth briefly the
facts Of the Titanic's sinking, with the
total loss Of the hull and cargo.
Holders of marine insurance policies
had thereafter merely to present GER
titled copies of this protest" along
with their policies, proofs Of the value
Of the goods covered, and Of their
presence aboard the vessel. For this
purpose nothing more was necessary
than the same papers which are Gus
tomarily presented at the custom
house when a cargo safely reaches
port.
These consist Of the bill OF lading
for the shipment insured, a copy OF
the ships manifest identifying the
presence among the cargo OF the items
in the bill Of lading, and the foreign
invoice certified by a United States
consul at the port Of shipment, which
fixes the value.
In ordinary cases, the marine un-
derwriters insist on receiving certified
copies of the protest" but In the
case of the Titanic, whose loss Is
matter Of lmmon knowledge, no diff
fculty has been made on this score.
The circumstances Of the loss Of the
Titanic make the collection OF claims,
as in any case Of total loss, much
simpler and a briefer process than is
the case in the great bulk Of pay
ments on marine policies. Joseph II.
Malloy, a leading authority on ma
rine insurance, ventured the opinion
yesterday that more individual claims
on marine policies are paid because OF
the pilfering from consignments on
dock or in transit for damage to goods
than for actual losses at sea, though
of course, the aggregate amount of
these losses is small.
Where a cargo is damaged by wa
ter or fire. and the vessel finally reach
es port or a position where salvage Is
possible, collection on policies is COM
plicated by the necessity Of arriving
at an appraisal Of damage. The final
determination Of such losses may be
arrived at by the sale at auction OF the
insured cargo, the percentage OF loss
in the policy being determined by the
proportion the auction price may bear
to the invoice value. knowledge that