The evening times., 1898-06-04
4Tn SAILORS, 1zrxED."

Life work Of Sanuel Pninsoll, the
SeAkan rPhilanthrOrast.
Samuel Piimsoll, whose death In London
was announced in The Times yesterday.
was known all over the world n the saal-
or's friend. The greater part, Of his' hfe
was devoted to .bettering the condition
of British seAmen, and thsz sueeeeded in
alleviating emany Of the- -hmdships under
which thai deserving body iabored HI.
Plimsoll was born at Bristol England. in
1894. He engaged In mercantile pursuits
early in life and was largely connected
with the coal trade in London and in the
north Of England. The Great Western
Railroad having a monopoly in the coal
trade on Its line. he, waged- war against
1t. and was mainly Instrumental in break
ing 1t down. He was also one OF the
honorary secretaries Of the great ex-
hibition Of 1851 and the author OF a paper
on the Export Coal Trade Of England,
published by the International congress
for customs REFORM which was held at
Brussels In 1856 Elscted in the liberal
interest for the lprOugh Of Derby, in 1868.
he turned his attention to the various
anomalies in TIN law relating to mer-
chant shipping. He discovered iaxness
in Its administration under which the
grossest abuses prevailed. and found the
system SO radically rotten that he deter
mined to apply all his energies to an
effort in the direction Of reform. Grain
laden vessels flying TIE English nag were
accustomed to cross the Atlantic, their
gunwales on a line nearly with the wal
er's edge, in all ths ferocity of tempest
uous winter. Shifting boards were un-
known. Ship owners In many instances
heavily insured against all possible risk,
were too penurious to supply pianking
for that necessary protection.
The custom was but too prevalent uh-
der the old laws OF marine insurance OF
sending rotten old hulks to sea laden with
valuable cargoes and insured far beyond
the worth. The result in many instances
was that they foundered with all hands
on board. or, becoming waterlogged. were
abandoned in midocean-
Mr.. Piimsoll took the trouble to collect
information on these momentous Ques-
tions. the upshot Of which was a startling
array Of statistics, which he brought be-
fore the House of Commons. and which
when published astounded the country.
The prohibition of deck loading was one
of the first objects at which he aimed.
In 1858 IT was totally forbidden by law.
but ten years later the restriction was
removed. In 1873 Mr.. Plimsoll showed
conclusively by statistics that the loss OF
life in the deck loading period from 1865
to 1872 was four times as great as In the
ten years during which no deck loads
were allowed. He paid visit to the
Black Sea and the Mediterranean in 1919
in order to gain an insight into the sys-
tenn Of overlooking at the grain ports in
Europe, and came back much poorer
after thorough investigation, but with
an ample knowledge of the subject. which
he turned into good account In his place
in Parliament. 1t has been estimated that
in the furtherance of his agitation he
spent no less than f10.o0o during the time
he was a member of Parliament. On sew
eral occasions Mr.. Plimson visited the
United States. toward whose people and
institutions he was always kindly dis
posed.