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A1 at Lloyd's
Meaning
The highest quality.
Origin
Lloyd's Register of Shipping used an alphanumeric code for classifying ships for insurance purposes. A1 denoted the highest quality vessels.
The name Lloyd's comes from Edward Lloyd, the proprietor of a London coffee house which he opened in Tower Street in 1688, later moving to Lombard Street. Lloyd encouraged a clientele of ships' captains, merchants and ship owners and provided printed sheets containing information about shipping as a service to them. Edward Lloyd died in 1713 but the business continued and in 1760 some of the customers formed into the Register Society. In 1764 they printed the first Register of Ships, as a reference resource for the insurance and shipping businesses. The international insurance market, Lloyd's of London, also has its roots in Lloyd's coffee house, but is otherwise unrelated to Lloyd's Register.
The organization became Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping in 1834, and at that date the first classification rules were published.