Shipowner members, business contacts and rival clubs were out in force to help the American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association (American Club) celebrate its centenary.

Perseverance, tenacity, grit, application and doggedness had brought the club through its first 100 years, according to Joe Hughes, chairman and chief executive of Shipowners Claims Bureau (SCB), managers of the American Club.

The American Club was founded in 1917 during the First World War as a result of British sanctions that prevented neutral ships trading with Germany.

Requisition of vessels by the US government during both the First and Second World Wars ensured that for a time the American Club was the world’s biggest protection-and-indemnity (P&I) club.

But there have also been leaner times. Hughes told the more than 500 guests present: “Twenty-five years ago there were some who were sceptical that the club would make it to a hundred.

“But it did, and the fact that it did can be attributed, among other things, to two overarching motivators — pride and perseverance.”

Until the 1990s, the club was largely an insurer of the US Merchant Marine, so was late in following European rivals into international markets.

But it then embarked on the Vision 2000 strategy with Hughes recruited as chief executive in the mid 1990s.

From more than 95% of business being American, the club has been transformed to the point that two-thirds of members are now overseas based, with the club not only operating out of New York but London, Piraeus, Shanghai, Hong Kong and most recently Houston.

Hughes notes there has also been a sea change in other respects, with a more than a fivefold increase in entered tonnage; fourfold premium growth, eightfold growth in total funds and a tenfold increase in free reserves.

The American Club has also been a leading proponent of diversification, with a notable move into the fixed premium market.

Last year, the club set up an even more ambitious subsidiary, American Hellenic Hull Insurance.