Not all ducks fly -- some roll through the streets of Washington, laden with tourists, before entering the waters of the Potomac River.

Making sure those ducks -- the nickname given these rebuilt and retooled World War II-era amphibious landing craft -- do so safely and are protected by adequate insurance coverage is part of Theodore G. Jeske's job as risk manager for Historic Tours of America Inc.

The company currently has four operational ducks -- with as many as three more likely to be added this season -- in its Washington-based fleet. The ducks take visitors by land and by sea from Union Station, near the U.S. Capitol, to a variety of Washington attractions.

Mr. Jeske stresses that these are no ordinary vehicles -- either in terms of operation or in the way they're insured.

First off, all of the ducks begin as antiques; they're not something found in any car or boat dealer's new showroom.

"Basically, when we buy one, we buy a rusted hull from somebody, and we start from the ground up and refurbish it," said Mr. Jeske. The process can be pretty expensive, too: HTA spent $80,000 to restore one duck, he said.

"The ducks are unique in the fact that they're both a land and a water craft. Nobody wants to take the ducks' insurance solely, so we had to devise a policy where on the road, they're covered by our auto carrier, Royal & SunAlliance. The minute the wheels touch the water, they're covered by CNA/MOAC, our marine insurance company," he said (see story, page 100).

Mr. Jeske noted that even before a fatal accident last year in Hot Springs, Ark., involving another tour company's duck (BI, May 10, 1999), insurers had little appetite for underwriting the odd vehicles.

"The cost when I first joined the company was prohibitive. We were paying $12,000 a duck just for the water insurance. I worked with our broker at the time, which was Sedgwick, and I worked diligently with them trying to place insurance. We were able to go with Lloyd's of London at the time. Now we have a bigger `fleet,' and we were able to get better rates in the American market with CNA/MOAC," Mr. Jeske said.

"It's not like a trolley, where it's automatically covered when I get a new trolley," he said. In fact, the drivers of the ducks aren't like the trolley conductors, either, as they all are captains licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Each duck also requires a Coast Guard certificate of inspection, he said. "You have to have a current marine survey so you know what value to insure it at."

"These are all things you have to have in place before they will insure a duck," Mr. Jeske said of the insurance market. "It keeps me on my toes to make sure I have all the paperwork in place."

HTA is currently working with the National Transportation Safety Board to overcome potential technical problems with the vehicles. HTA's head mechanic, Gary Cox, worked with the NTSB during the agency's investigation of the Arkansas accident and also has testified before Congress on safety issues involving the vehicles, said Mr. Jeske.

The main technical issue is making sure that "they don't sink like a stone when they go in the water," said Mr. Jeske.

The NTSB has been focusing on a boot that covers the ducks' axles, he said. "The problem in Arkansas was the boot was not attached properly," he said. And the NTSB is trying to figure out a way to compartmentalize the boot to better prevent such accidents, he said. Mr. Jeske said that he is not certain that the technology required to achieve the NTSB's goal currently exists.

Mr. Jeske is applying some of the lessons he's learned from insuring the amphibious vehicles to another HTA water craft, the schooner Western Union, which docks at Key West.

The schooner is an actual sailing vessel. The 1939-vintage ship is an all-wooden hull construction and was the last of its kind to be built in Key West. It sails on day trips and sunset cruises 11 months out of the year.

Every September, HTA sends the ship up the Gulf Coast to Tarpon Springs, Fla., for preventive maintenance.

His experience with insuring the ducks came in handy when HTA bought the Western Union in 1997, said Mr. Jeske.

"It made me more familiar with how marine insurance is acquired and what they look for," he said. "It made it easier for me to go out and get the insurance. And when I looked at the policy that the current owners of the Western Union had, I was able to look at it and say: `I think we can get a better price.' "