Salty Dog Talk (12 page)

Wreck

An insurance term meaning a total loss and that the item, or group of items could be ‘written off’ the insurance policy. Insurance is a business which began at sea as a gamble between Mediterranean bankers and merchants. The banker would suggest that a particular shipment would arrive safely and stake money to this effect. The merchant, or shipper, in effect claimed that it would not and was also prepared to put up a sum of money to back his belief. This later became the premium.

Published by Adlard Coles Nautical

an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

www.adlardcoles.com

Copyright © Bill Beavis 1991

First published by Adlard Coles 1983

Reprinted 1985, 1987

Reprinted by Adlard Coles Nautical 1991, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000

Reissued 2002

Reprinted 2004

Reissued 2007

Print ISBN 978-0-7136-8749-1

ePub ISBN 978-1-4729-0147-7

ePDF ISBN 978-1-4081-0768-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Note
: while all reasonable care has been taken in the publication of this book, the publisher takes no responsibility for the use of the methods or products described in the book.