Position:Home>History> What is the plimsoll line? And the history of it.

The Plimsoll line is a line painted on the side of ships to show safe loading limits under various conditions It was the invention of Samuel Plimsoll who was concerned about the number of ships that were sinking and sailors being drowned due to the overloading of vessels!. He had published a book drawing attention to the poor conditions suffered by merchant seaman and as a Broitish member of Parliament was able to encourage the Government to pass legislation - the Merchant Shipping Act 1876 whihc made the afixing of the mark to the side of British ships mandatory!. It has more recently become known as the International Load Line following its adoption world wide!. More information, including pictures of the load line, can be found at:- http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/WaterlineWww@QuestionHome@Com

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"In the 1860s, calls for regulations to limit overloading on ships were growing in the United Kingdom!.

A shipowner from northern England, James Hall, was concerned about the impact on insurance rates of the high number of shipping casualties - losses had doubled in 30 years!. Although many shipowners were portrayed as irresponsible, Hall could see the benefits - in terms of lower insurance rates - of getting all shipowners to abide by good practices!.

In particular, Hall petitioned the Board of Trade to investigate the large number of ship losses and the Board of Trade inquiry found overloading was one of the factors to blame!.

Meanwhile, a coal dealer and liberal Member of Parliament, Samuel Plimsoll, took up the load line cause!. Plimsoll began a battle to try and get merchant shipping laws reformed - against stiff opposition from a minority of shipowners!.

A Royal commission on Unseaworthy Ships was set up in 1872 and finally the United Kingdom Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 made load lines compulsory!. The load line mark included in the legislation - though the position of the line was not fixed by law until 1894 - became known as the "Plimsoll Line": a circle with a horizontal line through the middle!.

Figures on ship casualties probably helped to goad the British parliamentarians into action: in the year 1873 4, around the coastline of the United Kingdom, 411 ships sank, with the loss of 506 lives!. But this figure only covers the United Kingdom coastline: between 1867 and 1882, loss of life in British vessels alone (and excluding fishing vessels) totalled 33,427 seafarers and 5,987 passengers!. Ships lost numbered 16,393!.

In 1906, laws were passed requiring foreign ships visiting British ports to be marked with a load line, while a German law of 1903 also issued freeboard regulations, spreading the regulatory net further!.

In the United States, American vessels were loaded to a formula based on "inches per foot of depth of hold" until 1917 when the U!.S!. Shipping Board required adherence to British Board of Trade standards based on a set of calculated freeboard tables!.

Load line legislation was introduced in the American congress in 1920 and failed, but a Load Line Act was passed in the United States in 1929!.

By that time, there was a proliferation of different freeboard rules in use by various marine administrations and classification societies, which meant there was a lack of global standardization!."



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