MARINE INSURANCE Early History - The first marine insurance policies sold in America were contracted through the local agents of English under-writers in the coffee houses of American seaports. Always a necessary adjunct to commerce, forms of marine insurance were known in the times of the ancient Babylonians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as the Europeans of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Marine Insurance - Specialised insurance of ships and cargo against risk incidental to a marine adventure, usually covered by an insurance policy with extra clauses to deal with specific risks. This may include marine hull (i.e. the ship itself), cargo (i.e. the ships contents) and damage to third parties and the environment. Cargo Insurance – Coverage for goods in transit, and for the vehicles that transport them, over waterways, over land and in air. Cargo Insurance typically compensates the owner of merchandise for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc…, but excludes losses that can be legally recovered from the carrier. Inland Marine Insurance - Initially designed to insure cargo on inland waterways, inland marine insurance expanded to include movement on land as the interior of the country developed. Some of the first policies insured the possessions of traveling salesmen. In the twentieth century, bridges and tunnels used for transportation, as well as tourist baggage and postal shipments, were included. FIRE INSURANCE Early History - Fire insurance is a direct descendant of marine insurance. It developed in the American colonies from ideas brought by English settlers. American merchants realized the need for protection from loss from fire after the Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed three-fourths of the city's buildings. Like the first marine insurance company, the first fire insurance company in America began in Philadelphia, and, like the earliest marine companies, that company provided policies based on mutual agreement rather than stock subscription. Fire Insurance – Coverage for loss of or damage to a building and or its contents due to fire. |
