Lloyd's Register of Ships
F5. The Reference Layer: Glossary, Units, Signals and Information SourcesDefinition
Annual reference of merchant ships first published 1764.
The register of merchant ships maintained by Lloyd’s Register, the world’s first classification society. The Register Society formed in 1760 and printed its first Register Book in 1764, grading hulls by letter and fittings by number; the top grade gave the phrase ‘A1 at Lloyd’s’, first used in the 1775 to 1776 edition. The Register Book recorded each ship’s tonnage, owner, class, and survey status, and is the ancestor of today’s classification records and fleet databases.
Source: Lloyd's Register; Register Society 1760, first Register Book 1764, 'A1' from the 1775 to 1776 edition.