Centenary of Lloyd's Register

Abstract

THE world-famous society, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, celebrated on October 25 the centenary of its reconstitution by a dinner at the Savoy Hotel, which was attended by about four hundred dis tinguished guests, members of the stafl and repre sentatives of various shipping and commercial interests. The society has been described as a voluntary association of underwriters, shipowners, shipbuilders and others existing for the purpose of surveying and classifying the shipping of the world. It provides a means of self-government for shipping, and is neither State-aided nor a profit-making con cern. Of British shipping, more than three quarters is at present classed with Lloyd's Register, and of the ships being built throughout the world, 74 per cent are being constructed under the society's super vision. Its surveyors are found in every important seaport in the world, and in paying a tribute to its work, Mr. Runciman, the president of the Board of Trade, said that for many years Lloyd's Register has classified more ships than all the other classifi cation societies in the world, and it has done so on an international basis which has given uniformity to the trade it has served so well. It has standardised the basis of material and design, and has made a contribution to the safety of travel which could not have been made by any other means. The society is shortly publishing a centenary edition of the “Annals of Lloyd's Register”, which will contain a wealth of information anent the development of merchant shipbuilding from the days of the wooden ship to the launch of the Queen Mary.