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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 3

INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES

Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

1.	Name and Address of Reporting Person*	2.	Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)	3.	I.R.S. Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (Voluntary)
	HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc.(Last) (First) (Middle)		03/31/2003
	13403 Northwest Freeway (Street)	4.	Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol	5.	Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check All Applicable)
			Argonaut Group, Inc. (AGII)		o	Director	x	10% Owner
					o	Officer (give title below)
		6.	If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)		o	Other (specify below)
	Houston, TX 77040-6094 (City)         (State)         (Zip)
				7.	Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
					x	Form Filed by One Reporting Person
					o	Form Filed by More than One Reporting Person

Reminder:	Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.
*	If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 5(b)(v).

Table I — Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned
1.	Title of Security (Instr. 4)	2.	Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned (Instr. 4)	3.	Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5)	4.	Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)

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Table II — Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

1.

Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 4)

2.

Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year)

3.

Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 4)

4.

Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security

5.

Ownership Form of Derivative Security: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5)

6.

Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)

Date Exer- cisable

Expi- ration Date

Title

Amount or Number of Shares

Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock

Immed.

3/31/2013

Common Stock, $.10 par value

2,453,310

$12.00

I(1)

Explanation of Responses:

1. Through its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries: Houston Casualty Company (owner of 1,166,667 shares), U.S. Specialty Insurance Company (owner of 416,667 shares), HCC Life Insurance Company (owner of 286,643 shares) and Avemco Insurance Company (owner of 583,333 shares). The Preferred Stock mandatorily converts on its 10th anniversary. If all shares of the Preferred Stock are converted, including shares held or subscribed for by others, HCC would own approximately 9.99% of the Issuer's Common Stock.

/s/ CHRISTOPHER L. MARTIN	4/7/03
** Christopher L. Martin       Executive Vice President	Date

**	Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
Note:	File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.

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