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 highter the premium you wil have to pay.
It is not uncommon to hear that a shopping company has made a claim for the 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,ao 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.