In 1688, the most valuable real estate in maritime commerce wasn't a warehouse or a shipyard. It was a coffeehouse on Tower Street. Edward Lloyd ran it. By most accounts, the coffee was unremarkable. What made the place was the ritual that happened on its wooden benches. A merchant would describe a voyage — the ship, the captain, the route, the cargo, the season — and a stranger across the room would walk over, take a pen, and sign his