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The ArchivesInstitutionsThe Atlantic Insurance Markets

The Atlantic Insurance Markets

The market that carried the sea risks of the Atlantic trades, whose policy was a stamped instrument of law from 1698 and whose rates rose with the depredations of the pirates.

Also writtenthe offices of assurance (the phrase in Richard Harris's letter of 7 December 1722, as reported)

A policy of assurance was a sheet of paper, and from 1 August 1698 the Crown took sixpence on it. The same sixpence fell on a charter party, a bond, a release, a letter of attorney, any other obligatory instrument written out on vellum or paper. Parliament granted the duty throughout England, Wales and the town of Berwick upon Tweed.1,2

A charter of 1698 to the company trading to the East Indies gave its courts out there power to hear and determine all policies and acts of insurance, and with them the bills, the bonds, the charter parties and the wages of mariners.3

What the trades paid

The Council of Trade and Plantations wrote to the King from Whitehall on 24 July 1724 about the sugar trade. Insurance came in their reckoning beside debentures, custom house fees and the demurrage caused by custom house holidays, a charge that came with shipping like any other, and the whole of it discouraged the carriage of sugar to a foreign market.4

Pirates and Spanish guarda costas fell particularly on the ships coming from Africa with enslaved people, on whose safe arrival, the Board told the King, "the very being of the Plantations depends", and the rates of insurance had risen excessively.5

Ships freighted home came in fleets for their own security, which got them to foreign markets later than the French and dearer, demurrage added to everything else. The Board's remedy was to put the captains of the King's ships under the governors and councils of the colonies where they were stationed. Such an instruction, duly complied with, would abate the present excessive rates of insurance and save the colonies, Jamaica above all, a good deal of money.6,7,8

Two charters and an Act

In September 1717 the London Gazette carried notice of a subscription to incorporate a company for insurance of ships and merchandise. It had been opened on 12 August, begun by an eminent merchant of the City and taken up by several others, and had then been shut again while some alterations were made.9

Mr Farrer and others brought a bill up from the Commons on 1 June 1720, for better securing certain powers and privileges the King intended to grant by two charters. It was read the first time that day, and a second reading ordered for the morrow with the Lords to be summoned.10,11

On 3 June the Earl of Clarendon reported from a committee of the whole House that they had gone through it without any amendment. On 7 June the question was put whether the bill should pass and it was resolved in the affirmative, and Mr Meller and Mr Lightboun went to tell the Commons that the Lords agreed, again without any amendment.12,13

At the sitting of 11 June 1720 the Clerk of the Crown read out, second in the list of bills to be passed, the title "An Act for better securing certain Powers and Privileges, intended to be granted by His Majesty by Two Charters, for Assurance of Ships and Merchandizes at Sea, and for lending Money upon Bottomry; and for restraining several extravagant and unwarrantable Practices therein mentioned." The assent followed, pronounced to the bills numbered 2 to 14 together. The Act incorporated nobody.14,15

A policy at sea

Going up from the Texel to Amsterdam, Woodes Rogers carried no gold out of the ships. Taking any value out of them might be prejudicial to the insurance made on them, should an accident afterwards happen.16

Writing from Barbados in April 1697, John Clark described a master who pretended a leak before the ship left her convoy and would not send to the man of war just ahead for a carpenter. Clark believed her considerably insured upon her owners. He was taken into Martinique.17

Philip Roche had been in with others at insuring ships to a great value and then destroying them, and had got a little money by that and by other rogueries. He came to London and demanded a sum he had made insurance of in the name of John Eustace; the officer was apprised of the fraud, and Roche was arrested and flung into the Compter.18,19

The market's own paper would tell the rest. An underwriter's book, a broker's papers, a policy or a premium book from London between 1690 and 1725 would give the rate a merchant paid to cover a Guinea or a Jamaica voyage, and how much of that rate the pirates put on it; such books would come from the Lloyd's archive and from the collections of mercantile papers in the London Metropolitan Archives and at Guildhall Library. For the colonies the same question waits on a policy written in an American or Caribbean port, or on a suit brought upon one in a vice-admiralty court.

What the evidence does not settle

1720 charters sealing date

  • The sealing date of the two 1720 charters is unknown

6 Geo 1 c.18 commencement

  • The commencement date of 6 Geo 1 c.18 is unestablished

Date of the Ganj-i-Sawai capture

  • The Ganj-i-Sawai was taken on 5 or 7 September 1695Very likely

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. The Act granting further duties upon stamped vellum, parchment and paper charged sixpence on every skin, piece of vellum or parchment or sheet of paper on which a charter party, policy of assurance, passport, bond, release, contract or other obligatory instrument was engrossed or written, and the same sixpence on any protest, procuration, letter of attorney or other notarial act whatsoever. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute: Statutes of the Realm, vol. 7, 1695-1701: William III, 1697-8, An Act for granting to His Majesty His Heires & Successors further Duties upon Stampt Vellum Parchm[en]t. & Paper (chapter XXV), pp. 386-393
  2. Those duties were to be raised, collected and paid from and after the first day of August 1698 throughout the kingdom of England, the dominion of Wales and the town of Berwick upon Tweed. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute: Statutes of the Realm, vol. 7, 1695-1701: William III, 1697-8, An Act for granting to His Majesty His Heires & Successors further Duties upon Stampt Vellum Parchm[en]t. & Paper (chapter XXV), pp. 386-393
  3. The charter of 1698 to the company trading to the East Indies gave its courts of judicature power to hear and determine all policies and acts of insurance, together with bills, bonds, promises for payment of money, mercantile and trading contracts, charter parties and the wages of mariners. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal charter: Charters granted to the East-India Company from 1601, the charter of 1698 to the Company trading to the East-Indies, the clause erecting courts of judicature, p. 155
  4. The Council of Trade and Plantations told the King on 24 July 1724 that the charge of insurance, with debentures, Custom House fees, demurrage occasioned by Custom House holidays and the other charges incident to shipping, very much discouraged the carrying of sugar to a foreign market. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, no. 291 i, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 24 July 1724, pp. 168-185
  5. The same report of 24 July 1724 named the ships coming from Africa with enslaved people as the particular prey of pirates and Spanish guarda costas, said that on their safe arrival the very being of the plantations depended, and attributed to those depredations an excessive rise in the rates of insurance. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, no. 291 i, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 24 July 1724, pp. 168-185
  6. The same report states that from those depredations the ships freighted home were obliged for their own security to come in fleets, which made them reach foreign markets later and much dearer than the French, by the addition of demurrage to their other charges. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, no. 291 i, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 24 July 1724, pp. 168-185
  7. The same report proposed that for the future all captains of the King's ships be instructed to receive orders from time to time from the governors and councils of the colonies in America where they were stationed, for the preservation and security of the British trade in those parts. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, no. 291 i, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 24 July 1724, pp. 168-185
  8. The same report states that such an instruction duly complied with would abate the present excessive rates of insurance and would likewise save the colonies much expense, Jamaica in particular. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, no. 291 i, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 24 July 1724, pp. 168-185
  9. The London Gazette of 14 to 17 September 1717 gave notice that a subscription to incorporate a company for insurance of ships and merchandizes had been opened on 12 August, begun by an eminent merchant of the City and subscribed by several others, and had then been shut until some alterations were made. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Official gazette: The London Gazette, numb. 5573, from Saturday September 14 to Tuesday September 17, 1717, the advertisements
  10. At the sitting of 1 June 1720 a message from the House of Commons, by Mr. Farrer and others, brought up to the Lords a bill for better securing certain powers and privileges intended to be granted by His Majesty by two charters. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  11. That bill was read the first time on 1 June 1720 and ordered to be read a second time the next day, the Lords to be summoned. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  12. On 3 June 1720 the Earl of Clarendon reported from a committee of the whole House that they had gone through the assurance bill and directed him to report it without any amendment. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  13. On 7 June 1720 the question was put whether the bill should pass and was resolved in the affirmative, and Mr. Meller and Mr. Lightboun were sent to acquaint the Commons that the Lords had agreed to it without any amendment. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  14. At the sitting of 11 June 1720 the Clerk of the Crown read second in the list of bills to be passed the title 'An Act for better securing certain Powers and Privileges, intended to be granted by His Majesty by Two Charters, for Assurance of Ships and Merchandizes at Sea, and for lending Money upon Bottomry; and for restraining several extravagant and unwarrantable Practices therein mentioned', and the royal assent was pronounced severally to the bills numbered 2 to 14 in that list. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  15. That statute secured powers and privileges intended to be granted by the Crown by two charters, rather than itself incorporating any company. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 21, 1718-1721, June 1720, pp. 342-360
  16. Woodes Rogers records that on going from the Texel to Amsterdam the ships carried no gold out, on consideration that it might be prejudicial to the insurance made on the ships if they took any value out and an accident should afterwards happen. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World, 1712, the journal at the Texel
  17. John Clark wrote from Barbados in April 1697 that before the ship he was in left her convoy the master pretended a leak and would not send for a carpenter from the man of war just ahead, that Clark believed her considerably insured upon her owners, and that he was in consequence taken into Martinique. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 16, 1697-1698, no. 431 iv, letter from John Clark to Mr. Fitzgerald, Barbados, 22 April 1697, p. 195
  18. A General History of the Pyrates states that Philip Roche had been concerned with others in insuring ships to a great value and then destroying them, and had got a little money by that and other rogueries. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates, volume I, 1724, An Account of the Pyracies and Murders committed by Philip Roche, &c.
  19. The same account states that Roche afterwards came to London and demanded money he had made insurance of in the name of John Eustace, that the officer was apprised of the fraud, and that Roche was arrested and flung into the Compter. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates, volume I, 1724, An Account of the Pyracies and Murders committed by Philip Roche, &c.