|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Plimsoll line
|
|
Painted on the hull of ships to mark the water line when the ship is carrying its maximum permitted load. Its name commemorates a Liberal politician and social reformer, Samuel Plimsoll (1824–98), who made safety at sea his special crusade. His book Our Seamen (1873), a hard-hitting attack on unscrupulous shipowners, led to the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876; this established the load line and gave the Board of Trade new powers of inspection on board ship.
|
|
|
|