392 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



to do this sort of mutual insurance alongside the specialized under- 

 writers.^ 



There were two classes of specialized underwriters — the private and 

 the public. The former were unincorporated, had private ofifices, 

 and if their contracts were registered at all it was in these offices. 

 The latter were members of the two great insurance companies and 

 their policies were registered in due form in a public office, as at the 

 Royal Exchange.- In 1720 charters were issued to two marine insur- 

 ance companies giving them the exclusive pri\'ilege of insuring with 

 respect to other companies but not exclusive with respect to private 

 persons.^ The companies were one phase of the speculative mania of 

 the day and were the saner representatives of about a hundred insur- 

 ance projects brought forward. Their incorporation was opposed by 

 the private underwriters, but in vain; in the end it proved a great 

 benefit to them by protecting them from the possible competition of 

 many marine insurance companies. 



A coffee-house proprietor named Lloyd established a newspaper 

 for his patrons in 1696. It was published thrice a week and contained 

 news from the various ports at home and abroad relative to shipping. 

 "Lloyd's News"^ during the six months of its existence was a medium 

 of communication for merchants, captains, shippers, and under- 

 writers. It was suppressed by the government, and seems to have 

 been succeeded by "news-letters" furnishing shipping and commer- 

 cial intelligence to the guests at Lloyd's. These were either passed 

 from hand to hand or were read from a "pulpit." Meanwhile this 

 hostelry was becoming the center of all manner of maritime business. 

 In 1726 "Lloyd's List"^ began to be published, and the underwriters 

 developed a special intelligence department of their own. The 

 "List" contained the rates of London exchange on foreign markets, 

 the current prices of stocks and funds, a tide-table, news of the arrival 

 and departure and accidents of ships, both foreign and domestic, etc. 

 Such news was of first importance to merchants and underwriters. 



Loaning on bottoms — bottomry — was a common method of pro- 

 curing capital, of making loans at usurious rates, and of shifting or 



^ Forbonnais, II, 23. 



- Postlethwayt, Did., s. \-. .\ssurance; Hatton, Comes, 289. 



' 6 Geo. I, Cap. 18; 7 Geo. I, Cap. 27, Sec. 26. See discussion in Anderson, 

 Origin, III, 99-102; Cunningham, Growth, II, 491-2; Scott, III, 402-3; Martin, 

 Lloyd's, Ch. VI. 



^ Martin, Lloyd's, 66. 



5 Ibid., 76. 



