‘To the great advantage of skippers’: on compacten, or mutual marine insurances, in early modern Friesland

Summary During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mutual marine insurances between skippers, known as compacten , emerged throughout Friesland, both in villages and in cities. Outlining the legal settings of twelve compacten by discussing the organization of these compacten, the risks insured against, the financial set-ups and other noteworthy clauses, the overall view is that these mutual insurances offered Frisian skippers and shipowners a risk mitigation system that was able to support their specific, local needs.