Yes, and I was going to refer to that book, which is from 1998.
The article misses the point. He's describing the beginnings of marine insurance. The goal was to make commerce routine and at fixed cost. Before this, shipping was a high-risk, high-return, low-volume enterprise. Marine insurance converted it, gradually, into a low-risk, low-return, high-volume enterprise. From silks and spices to bulk salted herring in casks.
This is how shipping changed from "ventures" to "boring, but profitable".
The painting they chose for the cover—Storm on the Sea of Galilee—was stolen in the Gardner Heist in 1990 and has yet to be recovered. It’s believed to be Rembrandt’s only seascape
The article misses the point. He's describing the beginnings of marine insurance. The goal was to make commerce routine and at fixed cost. Before this, shipping was a high-risk, high-return, low-volume enterprise. Marine insurance converted it, gradually, into a low-risk, low-return, high-volume enterprise. From silks and spices to bulk salted herring in casks.
This is how shipping changed from "ventures" to "boring, but profitable".