Today is Samuel Plimsoll‘s birthday. Born on February 10, 1824,  Plimsoll, a British politician and social reformer  fought for reasonable loading of cargo ships, which lead the adoption of the first modern loadline, which became known as the Plimsoll mark or Line.  In his book, Our seamen : an appeal, (available for free in various Archive.org), he pointed out that close to 1,000 sailors a year were being drowned on ships around British shores, often due to poor maintenance and overloading.  In 1876, through Plimsoll’s efforts, the Merchant Shipping Act was amended to provide for marking of a line on a ship’s sides which would disappear below the water line if the ship was overloaded. A further amendment in 1877 imposed a limit on the weight of cargo which vessels were permitted to carry and created rules governing the engagement of seamen and their accommodation on board ship.

Sam Plimsoll sounds like a fascinating character.  He was a friend to sailors, miners and beer drinkers.  In addition to his tireless labor for the safety of sailors, he was also involved in mine safety.  Early in his career he had been the manager of a brewery and is credited with finding a new way of straining impurities from beer.   Nicolette Jones wrote a critically acclaimed biography of Plimsoll, The Plimsoll Sensation, which was published in 2006.   From a review in the Guardian:

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