Insurance covers losses of assets brought about by specific events by distributing them among a larger number of persons. The events relevant to marine insurance are accidents at sea up to and including sinking as well as hijacking and its consequences. In the early modern period, marine insurance in the narrower sense covered damage up to and including loss of ship and cargo, in the broader sense also the consequences for the individuals affected.

The beginnings of marine insurance in the late Middle Ages differed greatly from current forms of insurance, but they sha…