84 Boating New Zealand
oday, thanks to WiFi and the Internet,
conducting business in a café is
commonplace. But it’s not a new
phenomenon: men were doing similar
things in 17th century London when they
visited cofee houses to discuss ships and
shipping. One of these cofee houses – founded by Edward Lloyd
in London’s Tower Street – became the foundation stone for
Lloyd’s Register.
Just to be clear: Lloyd’s Register is a completely separate
body from Lloyd’s of London – an institution generally
associated with marine insurance. Te Register, published
annually, contains information about the construction and
seaworthiness of ships. Tat information is, of course, vitally
important to those insuring the vessels. But both organisations
were born in the same cofee house.Lloyd’s Cofee House – where it all started – is mentioned for
the frst time in a 1688 issue of the London Gazette, describing
a gathering of merchants, underwriters and other players
connected to shipping. Cofee was probably the key factor in the
venue’s success: everyone remained clear-headed – unlike those
opting to conduct business in breweries and taverns.
And Lloyd introduced a useful custom to keep negotiations
moving along at a decent lick: a candle was lit at the beginning
of an auction – and it ended when the wax melted away. Modern
boardrooms might beneft from the same technique.
Lloyd died in 1713 but his café remained a hub of activity- and the timing was perfect: between 1700 and 1750 the
maritime industry doubled both in value and volume.
Eventually, in 1760, the cofee house customers founded
the Register Society, the world’s frst ship classifcation
society. It would evolve into the primary source of
T
Lloyd’s Register – the world’s largest
and most respected database for the
classification of ships and yachts- is nearly three centuries old.
Bizarrely, it all began rather modestly
in a London cofee house.
The
BOOK
of SHIPS