Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/515

 *

examination of these causes and to the most effectual means of finding a remedy for the evil. With regard to the vexed question of a fixed load-line, which Mr. Plimsoll had recommended as a means of lessening, if not of removing altogether, the losses occasioned by overloading, they were unable to recommend any enactment for establishing a fixed line, founded on the proportion of freeboard to the depth of the hold of the vessel, remarking that the information they had obtained led "to the conclusion that the settlement of a load-line should be mainly guided by the consideration of the reserved buoyancy, that is to say, of the proportion which the capacity of the water-*tight and solidly constructed part of the ship which is above water bears to the capacity of the part immersed."

Analysing' various schemes prepared for their consideration, they remarked that the rough rule of three inches of freeboard to every foot of hold, hitherto considered as the measure of safety, while practically convenient, was not adapted for regulating the loading of all vessels, and, consequently, could not be recommended as a law to be enforced. The model of the ship, the character of her cargo, the method in which it is stowed, the nature and length of the proposed voyage, and the season of the year when engaged, were all matters requiring consideration, and which it would be quite impossible to embrace by any fixed rule applicable to every ship, whatever might be her form or the nature of her employment. Indeed, they remark with great force, "These circumstances must continually vary, and, under a charter, this mode of marking would have the dangerous