THE "BLACK BOOK." 127 



"The loose connection existing between the underwriters of London/' says the 

 leading authority on the subject/* " as frequenters of the same coffee-house, where they 

 carried on their business transactions, formed itself into a final ' system of membership ' 

 by transmigration to the Royal Exchange in 1774. The author and leading spirit in 

 this all-important movement, which had far-reaching consequences for the commerce, not 

 only of England, but for that of the whole world, was Mr. John Julius Angerstein, a 

 native of St. Petersburg, but of German extraction, descended from an old and highly 

 respected family of merchants/' The writer goes on to show how young Angerstein, 

 from junior clerk, had risen to be a successful merchant and underwriter. He becamo 

 one of the most honoured of those who assembled at Lloyd's Coffee-house, as he was 

 a most sagacious and far-seeing man, of unimpeachable integrity, and when the 

 movement for obtaining- a suitable home for the underwriters was mooted he was its 

 greatest supporter. He became virtually the leader in the whole matter, and seventy- 

 nine underwriters agreed to pay one hundred pounds each to start it fairly. Thus was 

 the "New Lloyd's," as it was then called, first organised. It is not, nor ever has 

 been, an insurance company, but rather a fraternity of merchants, shipowners, bankers, 

 and capitalists subscribing for a place Avhere they could meet and transact business. It 

 is a maritime exchange. But each man is guided by his own intelligence, and must 

 measure the extent of business which he undertakes by the standard of his personal 

 capital. 



" The English merchant especially," says Esquiros, in his charming work, "having 

 so many bonds of union with the ocean, can hardly expect to always have tranquil 

 sleep. Let the south-west squalls be ever so little let loose, the ruin of his house and 

 family is hoarsely muttered through his dreams. Oh, if he could only see from afar the 

 good ship in which he has risked the better part of his fortune ! In the morning he 

 rushes to Lloyd's, the fountain-head of all marine news. Nothing, either in his face 

 or conduct, shows the least emotion he has the art of veiling his features with a 

 mask of indifference ; but what a tempest of anxiety rages under this outward calm ! 

 He asks himself a thousand questions : What does the telegraph say? What ships have 

 touched at distant ports? What are the names of those which have reached England? 

 To all these questions and many more he finds answers affixed to the walls of the 

 vestibule. There the lists and advices give exactly the maritime bulletin of the day. 

 But the critical moment has yet to come ; this man, whose whole fortune perhaps is on 

 the sea, has not at present consulted the ' Loss Book,' or, as it is also called, the 

 'Black Book.'" 



This gloom-inspiring volume is placed by itself on a high desk, and each can refer 

 to it in turn. It is, of course, written by hand, and contains every day the wreck 

 record, briefly told. Laconic as is the formal record the name of the ship, destination, 

 nature of cargo, coast on which shipwrecked, and so forth there have been as many a& 

 twelve pages blackened with the sad summary of the losses announced by telegraph during 

 one day. " In each of these announcements frigid and taciturn as fate itself - 

 the mind may conjure up many a sad drama. How many human lives are there 



* Frederick Martin: "The History of Lloyd's and of Marine Insurance in Great Britain." 



