Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1896-12-24
THE PLIMSoLL MARX
a Device that Has Say ed Hundreds =,
Lives and Much Property

"NNtL GAtullAnlnE
anu saliihg ships moored along the
wharves, you will notice that many of
them have n white circle and n lot of
white line marked on their sides clos,
10 the water, almost as if some bad how
had beer chalking a picture there OF =
griddle-cake and a grldiron; but when
you n that hundreds of sbins ,rn
marked just the same way. those paint.
ca light colors having the marks in
Dlack, you know that those marks real.
~ mean something of importance in
connection with the ships on which
you see them. If you should uotica
more closely you would soon discover
nat all the ships belonging to Great
Britain, even the magnificent passep.
ger steamers like the "Lucania" and
leutonlc'' were marked with those
queer signs, and that ships Of no other
nation had them. If you were to ask
some sailor what the mark meant Le
would tell you briefly that it is the
"Pllmsoll Mark" and you would be no
wiser than before; in fact, he probably
would not know much more than that
bare fact himself.
That ugly mark, however Is safe.
guard to hundreds of vessels on the
stormy ocean, and to thousands of lives,
n to millions of dollars worth of
freight. 1t has only been in use about
twenty years, only properly used for
the last ten years, and is still adopted
by only one great seafaring nation in
all the world.
twenty-five years ago It was no I'M
common thing for ships to go out to
sea laden with valuable cargo and
hopeful human beings, never to be seen
or heard of again. People on shore,
even the owners of the cargoes and rel.
atives Of the passengers, would tale
it as something they must be prepared
to expect Oh account of the dangers of
the ocean. Finally, one man deter
mined to make a study of the subject,
and see If such terrible tragedies were
really unavoidable. He was an in
flexible Engllshman. named Plimsoll,
and a member Of Parliament. He spent
day after day along the docks watch
ing ships loading and unloading, COM
ing in and going out; he talked with
ship-owners, captains, and sailors. He
saw ships sent to sea with leaEv bot
toms, rotten spars, and worn-out rig
ging, with rusty boilers and rattle.trap
engines. He saw them loaded until
even in the still waters of the harbor
their upper decks were down to the
waters edge, and this overlooking
seemed to be the worst and most fire.
quent fault.
Then he went back to Parliament,
and introduced a bill to put a mark on
the sides Of ships to show how deeply
they could with safety be loaded. The
mark suggested was a circle with q
horizontal line through Its center. When
this horizontal line was down TO the
waters edge, no more freight was 10
be put into the vessel; she was to be
considered loaded. Immediately Plim.
soil brought down upon himself the
wrath Of the ship-owners, while every
body else laughed at his cranky idea
but he was not going to be downed
He published a book telling all he had
learned about the criminal overlooking
Of vessels, and their wretched condi
ton when sent to sea.
At last he got a vague sort OF an net
passed, giving the Board of Trade
bower to survey ships going to sea
and to stop those which seemed to bt
unseaworthy. This was in 1873, ant
during the first nine months of the &c
2s6 vessels were surveyed, and 2o6 o.
them found unseaworthy. At least ONT
in every ten was found to be so dan
gerously overloaded as to be In allnos
A sinking condition before leaving tn
dock. OF course, this opened the eye
Of the Board of Trade and of Par'ia
ment. and Plimsoll's mark became al
established feature on British sea-go
ing ships; but its establishment wa
fought against by ship-owners, inch D!
inch. 1t was nicknamed the pan
, coke." and ridiculed and treated Wit
!, contempt in every way. Some snip
owners put the mark on their smoke
stacks in defiance and derision. PIN
soil held to his idea, however, eVel
getting himself suspended from III
House of Commons n day for penn
too blunt and violent in his plain .ai
8 upon the subject. The result was I'm
t Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 maj
: inc the Plimsoll Mark compulsory o
ali British seagolng vessels, and requi
ing its position to be fixed, not ny u
1 ship-owners, but by the Board OF trad
n Lieut.. John NJ. Ellicott, U. B. n" l
S st. Nicholas.
4.I,a bn1dS hands