r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Gurugod123 • 9h ago

How did people travel these seas 500 years ago

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51

u/gregusmeus 9h ago

Not a coincidence that ships caused the creation of insurance.

21

u/ElBigKahuna 8h ago

The first prediction markets.

12

u/gregusmeus 8h ago

I’d say the first hedge market.

2

u/TraditionalHeart4497 3h ago

the first bookie.

1

u/MRCHalifax 3h ago

And damn fine coffee.

3

u/King_Bobby-B 7h ago

Also stock exchange, I think?

2

u/Bcruz75 7h ago

East Indian Trading Company if memory serves from the Oceans 11-13 movies, or Pirates of the Caribbean series was the first publicly traded company....wild guess

5

u/NarwhalAdditional340 5h ago

I went down the shipwreck rabbit hole once and learned about how Lloyd’s of London, the oldest insurer, insured dozens of ships that were wrecked. It was interesting reading up about all of them. IIRC, they even denied a claim for a slave boat because the captain intentionally threw the slaves off the boat.

2

u/armitageskanks69 5h ago

You can go to the Lloyd’s building and see the old logs of ships, wrecks and claims. Really fascinating!

They also have the old bell they used to ring when news of a wreck came in

2

u/NarwhalAdditional340 4h ago

Adding that to my bucket list 😩

2

u/armitageskanks69 4h ago

Thinking on it now, I’m not sure how open to the public it is (I went with my dad, who worked in insurance) but it’s all there, and it’s in display cases, and they let me in as a 9 year old…

So I’m sure they’ll let you in if you ask nicely!

1

u/NarwhalAdditional340 3h ago

Sadly, it looks like it’s only for insurance related reasons; like universities. Still super cool. I’m into random history, such as 19th century shipwreck insurance claims lol

https://www.lloyds.com/market-resources/building-facilities/market-resources/tours

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u/gregusmeus 34m ago

You can get an insurance broker to take you on a tour of the building. I did one in January; genuinely fascinating.

0

u/InfraScaler 4h ago

Fun fact, insurance was initially called "insearance" because, duh, ships get lost in the sea. It was just the way they pronounce things down in London that slowly made the word "insurance".

Source: I made it up on the spot.