Jon Legge
The Plimsoll Line
Samuel Plimsoll, Liberal MP for Derby (1868-1880) revolutionised the shipping industry with this life-saving graphic which prevented overloaded ships from setting sail.
My image celebrates the invention of the Plimsoll line. Its inventor and promoter, Samuel Plimsoll, Liberal MP for Derby (1868-1880) devoted his life to the safety of sailors and shipping. Before his reforms, hundreds of so-called 'coffin ships', overloaded by unscrupulous owners, sank in rough weather.
After a long struggle against ship-owners and their supporters at Westminster, the Plimsoll Line became a legal requirement for British ships in 1876, resulting in an immediate drop in the number of ships sinking. The Plimsoll Line is a series of marks, painted on the hull of a ship showing its maximum safe loading.
Although Derby is not normally connected with maritime inventions, it is fitting that so simple an idea that saved so many lives, should be invented in a city responsible for much of the technology that drove the industrial revolution. My image represents the hull of a steamship displaying the Plimsoll Line.
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