Plimsoll line
/ˈplɪms(ə)l
/(also Plimsoll mark)
noun
A marking on a ship’s side showing the limit of legal submersion when loaded with cargo under various sea conditions.It does not have a Plimsoll line like a cargo vessel....
- Belisha beacons, bobbies on the beat, Big Ben, a ship's Plimsoll line - all are familiar terms with their origins in the names of notable MPs of their age.
- Below this a single Plimsoll mark, ‘VI ‘, showing the draft of the tug in feet.’
Origin
Named after Samuel Plimsoll (1824–98), the English politician whose agitation in the 1870s resulted in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876, ending the practice of sending to sea overloaded and heavily insured old ships, from which the owners profited if they sank.