Lloyd's Register of Shipping

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping is a maritime classification society. In 1760 the Register Society was formed by the customers of a 17th century coffee house in London, Edward Lloyd’s, which was frequented by individuals associated with shipping and where the owner helped them exchange information by printing a sheet of all the shipping news he heard. The Register Society assembled the Register of Shipping, the first known register of its type, and in 1764 printed the first Register of Ships, to give both underwriters and merchants an idea of the condition of the vessels they ensured and charted.

The Society amalgamated with the Underwriters’ Registry for Iron Vessels in 1885, and in the twentieth century was one of the three classification societies which supervised the construction of ships. In 1949 the British Corporation Register of Shipping amalgamated with Lloyd’s Register, and the resultant organisation is still going today. Vessels remain registered with Lloyd’s until they are sunk, wrecked, hulked or scrapped.