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Article: Bermuda-Based Insurer Hires Scholars to Unearth Record During Slavery.
- Article from:
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)
- Article date:
- May 9, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Philadelphia Inquirer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Joseph N. DiStefano
May 9--Insurance Co. of North America was set up to protect Philadelphia shipowners against loss from storms, Arab pirates, and the British and French privateers who preyed on Caribbean sea lanes in the 1790s.
That history has fed a modern controversy: Did INA also profit from slavery by insuring masters against the loss of their slaves?
Ace Ltd., which bought INA two years ago, says a careful search required by a California law that took effect this year turned up no evidence it ever insured slaves or slave ships.
Yet scholars who have studied the slave trade and early shipping records are skeptical. ...