Lloyd’s
Register of Shipping
&
other British Registers
Lloyd’s
Register of Shipping should not be confused with Lloyd’s
(of London)
the
insurance market, even although there were some direct links. Both
organisations’ names now reflect the famous coffee-house frequented by the
variety of professionals associated with the shipping industry. Edward Lloyd
did not have any direct input in the production of the registers of shipping,
although it is not unreasonable to speculate that the earliest lists of ships
might have been formulated at Lloyd’s Coffee-House.
The Register
of Shipping appeared in 1760 and was, apparently, the first of its kind in
the world. Formulated by underwriters, the earliest versions (only surviving in
part from 1764-65-66) may have been hand-written, or as printed sheets. From
1775 onwards there is an unbroken line of surviving copies though and they were
then known as the Underwriters’
Register, or the ‘Green Book’. Whatever its form, these were strictly for the
use of the subscribers and this policy was to be continued for a considerable
time.
In 1769 the underwriters and brokers that compiled their
register had moved their operation to their own premises. Temporarily this was
in Pope’s Head Alley (known as ‘New Lloyd’s), but then went to the Royal
Exchange.
For this exercise it is not necessary to go through the many
changes in format in the register. However, some points need making. As already
briefly mentioned, the information contained within the registers (that came to
be issued annually) was tightly controlled. On the publication of each new
register, those in force had to be recalled and carefully accounted for. (The
loss, theft or destruction of copies brought significant penalties, as did
showing these to non-members.) Vessels were classified, by survey, although in
certain respects not too much
should be inferred by this, as the criteria was far from objective. Although
very much a London based organisation, even there much ill feeling was felt by
those that saw themselves adversely affected.
With one particular change in the form of classifications,
London shipowners were so
unsatisfied that they began to publish their own register, as of 1799. This was
officially entitled The
New Register of Shipping. Although maintaining that it was produced
by merchants, shipowners and underwriters, it appears to only have really been represented
by shipowners (at least at the beginning). This resulted in their listing more
generally being known at the Shipowners’ Register, or ‘Red Book’. Their premises
initially were at 22, Change Alley, then 3 Saint Michael’s Alley.
This was hardly an answer to the not insignificant weaknesses.
For a start shipowners were not then required to pay for surveys and
consequently, a great many appeared in both of the rival publications. Another
highly important problem related to the classification process itself. Far from
systematic, apart from being heavily biased towards London-built vessels, age
was the main criteria. Saliently, neither organisation was on a sound financial
footing.
Soon after the second entity had appeared there had been an
unsuccessful attempt to bring both the registers together by the General
Shipowners’ Society. Calls by disaffected members (including merchants) of the
shipowners’ group in 1823 began a real process of union though. Following
negotiations, a Committee of Inquiry was formed in 1824, with deliberations at
Lloyd’s. The majority of this committee was made up of London merchants,
shipowners and underwriters; with single member representation for some other
ports.
Taking a great deal of evidence from far and wide, including
outside agencies such as the surveyors of the Royal Navy, Royal Dockyards and
the Honourable East India Company, their report was completed in 1826. It
called for a completely new and comprehensive system of classification, based
on an enlarged and better surveying regime on properly laid down rules for
construction and maintenance. The committee were not particularly optimistic
about raising the necessary amounts of money to realise their proposals and
suggested government aid in the form of a small duty on tonnage, or
alternatively on marine insurance premiums. This process faltered.
By the early 1830s both registers were in such a perilous
financial state that it looked as if both would go under by about 1834 or so.
Through a ‘Special Committee on the Affairs at Lloyd’s’ small sub-committees of
the two registers were brought together at the Merchant Seamen’ Office (an
Admiralty precursor of the office of the Registrar General of Shipping and
Seamen) in August 1833. From this a Joint Committee followed and basically the
proposals of the 1824-26 committee were taken up, as
of the end of the year. Funding was to be raised, not only through payment by
members for copies of the register (encouraging a wider membership), but also
by shipowners for classification and surveys - according to a properly
constituted scale. The new organisation was fortunate in that it also received
extra contributions. Apart from £700 donated by individual underwriters,
Lloyd’s of London agreed to making a gift of £1,000 to
the new society (the latter paid back not that long after). As well as this the
four largest marine insurance companies; the Alliance Marine Assurance Company;
London Assurance Corporation; Indemnity Mutual Marine Assurance Company; and
the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, each agreed to funding
of one hundred guineas per annum. So, the replacement register, known as the Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign
Shipping, first
appeared in October 1834.
In relation to the classification of vessels, as of 1837 a sub-committee
(of the General Committee) was first appointed (initially only for
wooden-hulled sailing craft). Meeting weekly, until 1999, these were
overwhelmingly headed by the General Committee’s Deputy Chairman.
In the early days they had no premises of their own, meeting in
the boardroom of the General Shipowners’ Society, at 72 Cornhill. It was to be
decades before the register became a fixture in Leadenhall
Street.
This may have been a good solution to the problems in London,
but it did comparatively little for the merchants, shipowners and underwriters
in the rest of the United Kingdom. Although the new constitution was framed to
be more inclusive, the influence of the ‘outports’ on
the register’s committees remained slight. After unsatisfactory negotiations,
in the year of 1835 a list named the Liverpool Register of Shipping appeared: the work of
this city’s dissident shipping community.
Meanwhile in London, once again through talks conducted by the
General Shipowners’ Society, a mechanism of voting more representatives onto Lloyd’s Register
Permanent Committee was adopted through time. The east coast ports seem to have
benefited from this early, while Liverpool remained out in the cold.
Consequently, in 1838 once again a Liverpool Register of Shipping was published. Rather
than a pure list, this closely followed the format and classification system of
the London based Lloyd’s
Register. Part of the Liverpool fraternity’s concerns related to their
shipowners buying British North American (Canadian) hulls. Built of softwood,
they were cheaper than comparable British vessels but generally considered in
London to be of inferior construction. Anyway, this ‘rebellion’ sparked
protracted further negotiations and in 1845 the Liverpool and London
organisations ‘amalgamated’ (although in reality, the regional entity was
subsumed).
There was one more Liverpool based independent register. Again
unhappy with the rules emanating from London, in 1862 the Underwriters’ Registry for Iron Vessels was set
up. After various changes in L.R.S.’ rules for iron-hulled vessels,
protracted negotiations were held with the larger agency. In 1885 this
Liverpool publication entered the London fold.
With time, consolidation (through incorporation in 1871) and
much expansion Lloyd’s
Register became not only a truly representative body for all the
various sides of the shipping industry (not just the insurance element) within
the United Kingdom, it also built up operations throughout the world. With the massive changes in technology since the beginning of the
19th century, after long-term lobbying shipbuilders and marine
engineers were allowed a limited entry (through a sub
committee) to the levers of power. It was not until 1911 that
these important groups were allowed membership of the agency’s General
Committee.
In relation to this changing technology, although initially
hesitant to classify iron-hulled vessels, in time rules were produced. The step
from iron to steel was less of a challenge, since by this time there was a
considerable reservoir of experience (with further research carried out). With
shipbuilding becoming far more technically minded, Lloyd’s operatives became highly involved in the testing
of equipment (such as marine engines and chain), as well as the materials themselves.
As of 1877 a separate Lloyd’s
Register of Yachts was produced. Post First World War there was a move into the
classification of aircraft.
Lloyd’s
Register also gave good service to H.M. Government as and when called
on. The Marine Department of the Board of Trade having absolutely no technical
knowledge whatsoever, it was this commercial entity that formulated the
load-line regulations necessitated by the ‘Plimsoll Agitation’ (as the Board of
Trade detractors dubbed this lobbying). During the First World War, even before
the standard ship programme of the last phase, L.R.S. had been involved
in much war work. And, it was the same in the Second World War.
It should also be noted that another independent classification
agency appeared in Britain, in 1890. This was the British Corporation. Glasgow
based, it covered steel-hulled vessels. Interestingly, this survived until
1949, when it too disappeared into L.R.S.
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