Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything. Insuring public
or private property is a standard practice in most countries in the world. If,
however, you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be
equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather. Needless to
say, the bigger the risk an insurance company takes, the higher the premium
you will have to pay. It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has
made a claim for cost of salvaging a sunken ship. But the claim made by a
local authority to recover the cost of salvaging a sunken pie dish must surely
be unique.#
Admittedly it was an unusual pie dish, for it was eighteen feet long and six
feet wide. It had been purchased by a local authority so that an enormous pie
could be baked for an annual fair. The pie committee decided that the best way
to transport the dish would be by canal, so they insured it for the trip.
Shortly after it was launched, the pie committee went to a local inn to
celebrate. At the same time, a number of teenagers climbed on to the dish and
held a little party of their own. Dancing proved to be more than the dish
could bear, for during the party it capsized and sank in seven feet of water.#
The pie committee telephoned a local garage owner who arrived in a recovery
truck to salvage the pie dish. Shivering in their wet clothes, the teenagers
looked on while three men dived repeatedly into the water to locate the dish.
They had little difficulty in finding it, but hauling it out of the water
proved to be a serious problem. The sides of the dish were so smooth that it
was almost impossible to attach hawsers and chains to the rim without damaging
it. Eventually chains were fixed to one end of the dish and a powerful winch
was put into operation. The dish rose to the surface and was gently drawn
towards the canal bank. For one agonizing moment, the dish was perched
precariously on the bank of the canal, but it suddenly overbalanced and slid
back into the water. The men were now obliged to try once more. This time they
fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten
the chains. The dish now had to be lifted vertically because one edge was
resting against the side of the canal. The winch was again put into operation
and one of the men started up the truck. Several minutes later, the dish was
successfully hauled above the surface of the water. Water streamed in torrents
over its sides with such force that it set up a huge wave in the canal. There
was a danger that the wave would rebound off the other side of the bank and
send the dish plunging into the water again. By working at tremendous speed,
the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned.&