Amidships and just above the waterline on the side of a merchant ship you will see painted in white a circle with a horizontal line through it and alongside it another set of marks. These are known respectively as the Plimsoll line and the load lines, the first named for Samual Plimsoll, a Liverpool merchant and member of Parliament about 1880 who succeeded in Having a bill passed requiring every British merchant ship “to carry the mark and not submerge it”. Before that year many otherwise seaworthy ships had been lost through overloading. The load lines are special variations for different areas of operation and prevailing conditions. Obviously there would be no point in applying such a system to naval vessels. The draught marks of our ships are marked fore and aft in 6-inch Roman numerals and are read by a shipwright before leaving or after entering harbour.
Anil
