Lutine Bell engraved St Jean 1799

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"Lutine Bell"
The French frigate LA LUTINE (launched at Brest, 1785) was captured at Toulon by us in 1793 and renamed H.M.S. LUTINE. In 1799 she was employed carrying about ?1,125,000 in bullion and money from England to Cuxhaven. In a heavy gale the ship was driven ashore on one of the Dutch Friesian Islands and sank with only one survivor. Salvage operations extended over many years but over ?1,000,000 remained unsalved. The ship's bell which was recovered is engraved "ST. JEAN - 1799" and it is not known how this came to be in the LUTINE. It now hangs in the rostrum of the Under-writing Room at Lloyds and is rung to give warning of an important announcement being made. (e.g. a ship overdue).

 

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LLOYD'S OF LONDON RECONSTRUCTION PLAN IMPLEMENTED


Lloyd's today (Wednesday) signalled the implementation of its ?3.2 billion reconstruction programme launched in May 1995.

The successful completion of the programme, representing one of the largest financial reconstruction exercises ever undertaken, was marked by the ringing of the Lutine bell in the underwriting Room at Lloyds by David Rowland, Chairman of Lloyd's.

Mr. Rowland, accompanied by Anthony Nelson MP, Minister of State for Trade and Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry, rang the Lutine bell three times. Traditionally the bell has been sounded once for bad news and twice for good news.

Addressing the market this morning, Mr. Rowland said:

"By any measure, today represents a defining moment in the history of this great market place. We have reached the end of a long and difficult journey. The three rings of the Lutine bell symbolize three important stages in that journey.

"First, to mark our regret at the pain and suffering which our losses have wrought upon many of our members. Second, to mark our pleasure at having reached our destination with the help and support of so many. Third, to signal the beginning of a new journey to consolidate this market's reputation as a centre of insurance excellence."

The completion of the reconstruction programme follows the acceptance at the end of last month of settlement offers made to Lloyd's 34,000 members worldwide. At the end of last week more than 91 per cent of members had accepted the terms of the offer.

The other key element of the reconstruction was completed this morning when Mr. Nelson announced that he had approved the lifting of the conditions on the authorisation of Equitas Reinsurance Limited and Equitas Limited (Equitas).

The full authorisation of Equitas enables Lloyd's to complete its reconstruction and renewal programme. All Lloyd's members will now have their 1992 and prior Lloyds liabilities reinsured into Equitas, a company set up expressly for this purpose. The Department of Trade and Industry had conditionally authorised Equitas in March this year, the conditions to be lifted once a preset level of financing for the company was in place.

On Friday last week (August 30) Lloyd's declared its reconstruction and renewal programme unconditional and submitted a formal request for the conditions relating to the full authorisation of Equitas to be lifted. Each member accepting his or her individual offer as part of the programme has undertaken, by September 30, to pay their individual premium to Equitas, completing its necessary funding.

Equitas is being funded with a premium of ?14.7 billion calculated as at December 31, 1995.

The History of the Lutine Bell

For more than a century, the Lutine bell has been synonymous with the name of Lloyd's of London, the world's leading insurance market. Traditionally rung to herald important announcements to underwriters and brokers in the underwriting Room - one stroke for bad news and two for good - it is recognized throughout the world as the symbol of an organisation whose fortunes are linked inextricably with natural and man-made catastrophes.

The bell was carried originally on board the French frigate La Lutine, which surrendered to the British in 1793. Six years later, as HMS Lutine, carrying a cargo of gold and silver bullion, she sank off the Dutch coast. The cargo, valued then at around ?1 million, was insured by Lloyd's underwriters who paid the claim in full.

There have been numerous salvage attempts on the vessel since she sank. These have yielded a number of gold and silver bars, the ship's rudder, from which a table and chair were made, and several other items including the captain's watch. In 1858 the wreck yielded its most important treasure, the ship's bell which was hung in the underwriting Room which Lloyd's occupied in the Royal Exchange in the City during the 1890s and was rung when news of overdue ships arrived at Lloyd's.

The purpose of ringing the Lutine bell has often been misunderstood. For many years, whenever a vessel became overdue, underwriters involved in insuring the vessel would ask a specialist broker to reinsure some of their liability based on the possibility of the ship becoming a total loss. When reliable information about the vessel became available, the bell was rung once for bad news - such as a total loss - or twice for a safe arrival or positive sighting. This ensured that all brokers and underwriters with an interest in the risk became aware of the news simultaneously.

Modern communications have ensured that the chances of a vessel becoming overdue are now very small. The bell was last rung once for the loss of an overdue ship in 1979, and it was last rung twice for a safe arrival in 1981. The ringing of the Lutine bell is now restricted principally to ceremonial occasions.

Facts About The Lutine Bell

Lutine is a French word meaning 'elf' or 'sprite.'
The bell weighs l06 pounds and measures 18 inches in
diameter.

It bears the inscription St. Jean l779, which may have been
either Lutine's original name or the bell may have been a

second-hand replacement

The bell has hung in four successive Lloyd's underwriting
Rooms:

the Royal Exchange 1890s - 1928,
Lloyd's building in Leadenhall Street 1928-1958,
Lloyd's first Lime Street headquarters 1958-1986, and
the present Lloyd's building since 1986.
On 24 May 1986, four red-liveried Lloyd's waiters carried the
bell on a 12-foot Thames barge oar from the 1958 building to

the new headquarters on the opposite side of Lime Street.

The last occasion on which the bell was rung twice for a
vessel was 10 November 1981 when it was struck twice to

announce news of contact with the overdue Liberian motor

vessel Gloria.

The bell was last rung once for a vessel on 9 November 1979
when wreckage of the tanker Berge Vanga (228,000 tons dwt) was

located in the South Atlantic. By a sad coincidence, the

previous occasion was for the Berge Vange's sister ship the

Berge Istra (227,000 tons dwt) which sank in the Pacific after

three explosions on 19 January 1976.

The bell has been rung twice for good news on a number of
Royal occasions including the opening of the present building

by HM the Queen on 18 November 1986.

During World War Two, the bell was often rung to warn the Room of impending air raids. On 27 May 1941 news was received
that the German battleship Bismarck had been sunk by the Royal

Navy. The bell was struck once.

The bell rang once to mark the deaths of a number of
monarchs and statesmen including HM King George V, HM King

George VI, President Roosevelt, President Kennedy and Sir

Winston Churchill.

Although the Lutine bell's traditions are firmly rooted in
Lloyd's marine market, it was rung:

twice to announce the safe splashdown of the US Apollo
8 space mission on 27 December 1968;

twice on 28 November 1973 to announce the release of
eleven hostages from a hijacked Dutch Boeing 747, and

twice on 14 November 1984 when Lloyd's Silver Medal
for merit orious services was presented to the crew of

the NASA space shuttle Discovery who had successfully

recovered two communications satellites from an

incorrect orbit.

The most unusual ringing of the bell took place on l4 July 1994 at a charity concert in the underwriting Room when it was struck once four times during a performance of a specially-composed piece of music.