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November, 1923 not well known. Mr. Porter, his asso- ciate in the management, for the past two years, was a member of the firm of DeKay & Co., Inc., a brokerage firm. Mr. DeKay, president of DeKay & Co. has been retained in an advisory capac- ity by the new management of the Nor- wegian Atlas Co. Mr. DeKay has also been connected with the New York state insurance department for many years as an examiner in the work- men’s compensation department. This company is a by-product of the war and entered this country to transact a direct marine and fire reinsurance busi- ness. The fire reinsurance business was discontinued early in 1922. At the present time there is only one Norwegian marine insurance company in this market; all others which were entered during the war and_ subsequent thereto have withdrawn, one of them’ be- ing the Norske Lloyd, which was placed in compulsory liquidation. The Christi- ania General Insurance Co. is also a Norwegian company which operates only a fire reinsurance business. The financial statement for the. year 1922 of the United States branch of the Norwegian Atlas Insurance Co., as filed with the state insurance depart- ment of New York showed total assets of $1,391,732, and net surplus of $893,- 304. * * * More Ships Are Reported Lost in July IGURES compiled from the Liver- pool Underwriter’s association show that there were 435 vessels of over 500 tons gross reported as casualties for July of 1923. This compares with 429 vessels for July of 1922 and 364 vessels for. July: of 192). Of these” 16. ves sels of 30,162 tons gross were totally lost as against 14 vessels of 31,767 tons gross for July of 1922 and 18 vessels of 29,291 tons gross for July of 1921. ke Favor Steel Ghia for Shipments of Steel N RECENT years cargoes of: sheet steel from’ England to Norway have always been shipped in iron or steel ships. When cargoes of this kind are carried in wooden or composite ships underwriters should always cover the risks only with the F. P. A. clause. Shipments on iron or steel ships are considered fairly good risks, but if such shipments are effected on steamers of an- other class they are considered very poor. Sheet iron is generally shipped in 100 kilo cases and stowed in layers be- neath each hatchway. As the sheet iron is rather heavy it is evident that there MARINE REVIEW are large empty spaces in the holds and a ship can by no means be. filled up with such cases. Cargoes of this kind may be to a certain extent com- pared with loads of gravel. If these cases of sheet dron were carried in wooden or composite ships such vessels if encountering rough weath- er would have a heavy strain on the hull as well as on the deck and serious damage could then be expected. There- fore, it should be remembered in con- servative underwriting the shipping of iron should be accepted only when placed on iron or steel ships. ne es, wae, Use Scrapped Warships in Jap Rebuilding XTENSIVE soundings are _ being made by steamers entering the har- bor of Yokohama because of the recent ' upheaval of the sea bottom. In order that the true condition of the bottom of the sea may be known it is thought ‘that it will be necessary eventually to make soundings as far out as 45 miles. Yokohama harbor, advices, is still inaccessible to vessels with a draft equivalent to .that of the Canadian Pacific line. Bankers and ship- pers recently requested marine under-- writers of New . York to have —in- surance policies or certificates of in- surance amended to cover to. the original port of destination or to any port in China or Japan to which goods may be diverted because of the possible con- gestion at the intended port of dis- charge. This is brought about by rea- son of reports which are being received in the United States that a great deal of congestion in Japanese ports is. feared. Various steamship lines are now pre- paring to handle an abnormally large amount of freight and the Far Eastern conference has met to discuss the sit- uation which has been brought about by the recent catastrophe. The message from Osaka was given out to the effect that the navy -de- partment would soon begin scrappinz a number of government vessels and in so doing obtain material to be used for reconstruction work in Tokio. Reports of subsequent earthquakes have been received from various parts of the world; those of most interest to Americans being from Mexicali, lower California, where a fishing town is said to have been destroyed by a tidal wave. The town destroyed is San Jose de Cabo, which is just above San Lucas. A loss of life was reported at this place. Vessels carrying mer- chandise to Guayamas, which cleared the cape in time £ escape damage or de- struction, were ordered to return to San Jose de Cabo for relief work. according to late - 417 Chile Insurance Market Is Important ‘P“HE business of insurance is one of the largest businesses of the world today. The aggregate volume of turn- over for the insurance companies now operating in the United States is $3,- 500,000,000. The leading companies of the United States have formed an or- ganization called the Atnerican Foreign Insurance association. The purpose of this organization is to facilitate the writ- ing of insurance in outside countries. Each member of. this organization as- sumes a certain: portion of each risk written. Chile is one of the countries in which not only American but French, British and German insurance companies have extended their writings. There is prob- ably no form of business in Chile bet- ter developed than insurance. _» This Statement is made by the department of commerce from the office of assistant trade’ commissioner Embry of Santiago. The: insurance business of that country “is progressing rapidly and is being placed on ‘as sound a basis as that enjoyed in England: and the United States. The majority of insurance companies in Chile have their headquarters located in either Valparaiso or Santiago. Of the 131 companies which were entered in 1921 for writing insurance, 88 Were ~ located in the former city and 34 in the latter. Eighty-five of the aggregate number of companies were Chilian, while of the 45 others, 31 were English, 7 were German and 4 were American. Argentine, Canada, Brazil and Norway | were represented by one company each. The latest figures available show - that during 1921 the premium income was in excess of 84,000,000 pesos, with fire in- surance leading in importance, followed by life, marine, workmen’s compensa- tion, automobiles and vehicles, accidents to animals, accidents to persons, miscel- laneous_ risks and earthquake insur- ance. Insurance of all kinds has steadily increased in Chile during the last 10 years and this is especially true of fire insurance. A substantial increase was in the amount of insurance handled by English companies in 1919 over the previous year. In 1920, a marked ‘de- crease was shown, undoubtedly the result of poor business conditions. American insurance companies while occupying an important although comparatively small position, in the premium volume manage to show an increase in business from 1918 to 1920 inclusive and during this period the number of American com- panies were increased from two to four. German insurance companies during the same period show ‘an increase. recorded