MR. PLIMSOLL. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued). 



A Contrast Floating Palaces and " Coffin-ships " Mr. Plimsoll's Appeal His Philanthropic Efforts Use of Old 

 Charts Badly Constructed Ships A Doomed Ship Owner's Gains by her Loss A Sensible Deserter 

 Overloading The Widows and Fatherless Other Risks of the Sailor's Life Scurvy Improper Cargoes 

 " Unclassed Vessels " "Lloyd's," and its History. 



TURNING by way of that contrast which our subject so abundantly presents, let us pass 

 from the consideration of well-regulated, well-found steam-ship lines, to a different class 

 of vessels those " coffin-ships " of which we heard so much a few years since. As we 

 all know, the term has been lately used to signify unsea worthy ships of all kinds 

 such as that mentioned by Mr. Plimsoll, which was loaded at Newcastle with nearly 

 twice her proper tonnage, and dispatched to the Baltic in mid-winter, with her main-deck 

 two feet two inches below the level of the water. She foundered eighteen miles 



