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THE character "A1 at Lloyd's" has obtained popular currency wherever the English language is spoken, but among the millions who use the term, comparatively few have any clear idea either of its real significance or of its history. This history, tinged as it is with the glamour of romance which attaches to everything connected with the sea and seafaring people, would form a fitting subject for the inspired pen of a poet. The compilers of the Annals of Lloyd's Register, however, regard their duty as limited to that of setting forth a plain, unvarnished tale of the origin, constitution, and practical working of the Society known as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, which now celebrates, not the centenary of its foundation - the earliest volume of the Register that we have is dated 1764-65-66 but of its re-constitution upon the present basis.
That basis has proved itself to be both broad and strong, and upon it has been raised a voluntary association of Underwriters, Shipowners and Shipbuilders, which exists primarily for the purpose of classifying the Mercantile Marine of all nations. In all essentials it is a public body, having no shareholders, making no profits, and consequently having no interests to serve beyond those of the industries with which it deals. The whole of its revenue is devoted to perfecting its organisation, and maintaining and extending the sphere of its usefulness. As is known to many, but not to all, that usefulness becomes effective in many ways, and not least in the readiness of the highly qualified staff of the Register to give counsel and advice in the solution of the many problems, both scientific and practical, that arise in regard to the design, construction and equipment of the hulls and the engines of modern ships.
The story of how this Society, wielding so much authority, so willingly and universally accepted, came into existence was told in the Annals of Lloyd's Register
published in 1884; it remains now to bring this history up to date, from a period of restricted importance to its present commanding position.
It has been truly said by an eminent authority that no other example can be found
"of an informal corporation, without patronage and without Government aid, which has raised itself by its integrity and intelligent management to the position of giving the law to an enormous body of men like the mercantile community, not one of whom is bound to take any cognisance of its existence unless he chooses to do so. And this has been done while the practice of shipbuilding has changed, not once, but many times. The Register commenced in the days of wooden sailing ships, and has seen every change from that to the modern steel steamers, and vet it has not only accommodated itself to every alteration
in the structure of vessels on which it sits in judgment, but it has also reformed its own constitution to meet the development which has occurred in the mercantile world."
This striking tribute is even more true of the Society to-day than it was when written fifty years ago. For, in the intervening years, the march of progress has not been stayed. On the contrary, many important and far-reaching changes have taken place with the object of keeping the Society not only abreast of scientific and mechanical development, but also of making its governing body more thoroughly representative of the various interests which it serves.
The widespread success achieved by Lloyd's Register has only been rendered possible by the spirit of goodwill which has enabled men of different, and sometimes of conflicting, interests to combine together in order to accomplish a work of international importance. When started by the Underwriters in Lloyd's Coffee-house in 1760, the management of the Register was in their hands alone. When it was remodelled in 1834, Shipowners and Merchants were admitted, and now by the subsequent admission of Shipbuilders, Marine Engineers and others, it contains within its fold all the elements required to make it a truly representative body both at home and abroad.
Such an example of international co-operation redounds to the credit of the Committee of Management, supported by the leading members of the technical and administrative staff who have guided the destinies of the Society during the last fifty years. In this connection, it is a pleasure to lay emphasis on the service rendered to the Society by Sir Andrew Scott. His life, which has run like a powerful chain linking together sixty-five of the hundred years with which these Annals deal, has been devoted to the welfare of Lloyd's Register. During thirty of those years he has occupied the responsible position of chief of the permanent stall", and it may be that the continuity of policy that has marked the steady development of the Society's activities is in great measure due to his wise, courteous and broad-minded influence.
The Society publishes these Annals believing that (hey will be of interest to all members of the shipping community-to the Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, the Shipowner and Underwriter. To them, the part played by the Register in helping to solve the vital problems upon the solution of which safety at sea depends, must appeal, for the story of the Society's activities is, in fact, the story of modern development in shipping, a picture of swift change and skilful adaptation.
Hut there is a still wider public-men and women who appreciate the importance of international relationships and the powerful influence of international commerce upon these vital questions. The Committee hope that this volume will also appeal to them, that they will see in it something more than a record of the history of a public institution; that they will realise the beneficial effect produced on the spread of civilisation itself by that approach to perfection in the means of ocean transport, which, during 100 years of service, has been the aim of Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
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