No. XXXII.] APPENDIX. 361 



to endeavour to get one of their clique to be liquidator. The consequence 

 of this was that their claims were all admitted, and the poor shareholders 

 squeezed to their uttermost farthing, and abused by those who robbed 

 them. My heart quite ached for the poor shareholders, who were so 

 cruelly cheated. Apologizing for so long a letter, I am, 



Camberwell. (Signed) MARINE CLERK. 



SIR, Your correspondent in the last week's number of the ' Insurance 

 Times ' protests against the word " gang " as applied to those who defraud 

 marine insurance offices. The whole tenour of the letters to your paper 

 clearly demonstrates that there is an extensive organization, widely 

 scattered, who derive their wealth from these practices. The word " gang," 

 however, is so generally applied to convicts that it is hardly applicable to 

 a set of men not convicted. For exactness of language I would suggest 

 the use of the word " sea-thug " for all those who obtain improperly money 

 from underwriters and marine insurances. From this appropriate term we 

 should derive the verb " to sea-thug," and the abstract principle " sea- 

 thuggery." Hereafter they may be described as Liverpool sea-thugs, London 

 sea-thugs, Glasgow sea-thugs, Lloyds' sea- thugs, et signa sunt similia. 



St. Pancras. (Signed) WORD FANCIER. 



SIR, Mr. Plimsoll has done good service to the State by having called 

 the attention of Parliament to the unnecessary yearly destruction of the 

 lives of more than 500 brave sailors. 



In his admirable speech, however, Mr. Plimsoll did not fully realize 

 to his own mind the important manner in which all the evidence shows 

 that marine insurance has led to this excessive mortality. 



Insurances are effected beyond the value of the thing assured. The 

 loss of the object assured is thus an event to be desired, because it produces 

 a pecuniary gain. The desire for the event leads to its occurrence. Ships 

 and goods are desired to be lost. Ships are consequently wrecked, and 

 therefore the poor sailors perish. 



Marine insurance leads directly to the following results : 



1. Ships are scuttled. 



2. Ships are burnt. 



3. Ships are run ashore. 



4. Ships are deserted. 



5. Ships are sailed unsound. 



6. Ships are imperfectly stored. 



7. Ships are shortly manned. 



8. The freight is uncared for. 



9. Valueless articles are substituted for valuable freight. 



Whenever any of these events happens a claim, arises. Insurers are 

 defrauded, and the lamentable consequences to underwriters, shareholders 

 of marine companies, and to bond fide assurers, so graphically depicted by 

 the correspondents of the * Insurance Times,' are brought to pass. 



The first object in a civilized country is the preservation of life, and 

 the second the protection of property ; hence the temptation to fraud 

 which marine assurance offers, by the destruction of property and conse- 

 quent loss of life, should be restrained by legislative enactments. 



