l68 TiMEHRI. 



not stow or safely carry more than a certain weight, 

 which is called dead weight. 



In England a ton by weight is 20 cwt. or 2,240 lbs., 

 and a ton by measurement is assumed as the quantity 

 which will fill 40 cubic feet If the cubical contents of 

 the goods are less than 40 cubic feet to the ton weight, 

 the term " dead weight" is applied. 



By the term capacity is meant that a certain number 

 of cubic feet go to make up the ton of measurement for 

 the stowage of the goods. The ton register is uniformly 

 one hundred cubic feet. The capacity for stowage is, how- 

 ever, not a true indication of what a ship can carry with 

 safety, the hold of the ship may be filled with light goods 

 without her hull being too deeply submerged, but if 

 loaded up to her deck with dead weight she would lose 

 her buoyancy or power of flotation, in fact she would 

 sink, therefore when the ton of capacity is used, the 

 capacity to load or the capacity to stow and load is 

 understood. 



Further, a ship may be described as of 800 tons regis- 

 ter, but with respe6l to her burden she may carry 

 equal to 1,300 tons, more or less, according to her pro- 

 portions, build, and type. 



Again, the burden of a ship is not in every case the 

 measure of the exa6l number of tons that a ship is 

 capable of carrying; this depends upon the specific 

 gravity of the goods. A ship of given dimensions will 

 be able to carry a larger number of tons of a given 

 kind of goods that are of agreater specific gravity than of 

 another of a less specific gravity. The modern sailing 

 merchant cargo-carrying ship in some instances will carry 

 from 30 to 70 per cent, over her registered tonnage. The 



