The Jan Maria was a Dutch schooner that, in 1883, en route from the Baltic to its home port, was forced to jettison cargo during a fierce storm, which resulted in a General Average (GA) procedure. GA refers to a method that redistributes damages that were deliberately inflicted by the master, in order to save the ship and its cargo, among all those parties that benefited from the action. The report of this procedure of the Jan Maria has been preserved and is exceptional in its completeness. It offers a unique view on a complex procedure and also on the coping mechanisms of small-scale entrepreneurs in a volatile business environment. In this article, I will explain the principle and functioning of GA, and I will argue that, in spite of financial innovations like marine insurance, GA remained an important part of risk management.

在扬玛丽亚是荷兰帆船，在1883年，在途中从波罗的海到它的母港，被迫抛弃货物在一场激烈的风暴，导致海损（GA）过程。GA 是指一种重新分配船长故意造成的损害的方法，以在所有受益于该行动的各方之间挽救船舶及其货物。Jan Maria的这个程序的报告已被保存下来，其完整性非常出色。它对复杂的程序以及小规模企业家在动荡的商业环境中的应对机制提出了独特的看法。在本文中，我将解释 GA 的原理和功能，我将论证，尽管出现了海上保险等金融创新，但 GA 仍然是风险管理的重要组成部分。