174 TiMEHRI. 



safety. A ship floating too deep in the water, having no 

 reserve buoyancy, would possess no rising force, and 

 thus would be plunged under water at every wave, and 

 might ultimately sink. 



Legislation in England with regard to the Load Lines 

 of vessels goes back to the year 1876. By the 6th Clause 

 of that Act power was given to the Board of Trade or 

 to appointed officers, to detain a vessel while in any 

 port of the United Kingdom, for survey, which was un- 

 seaworthy owing to defe6ls in the vessel, or owing to 

 overloading or improper loading, and unfit to proceed 

 without serious danger to human life ; the detention was 

 in the first instance provisional, but was subsequently 

 made final if necessary. 



The A61 of 1S76 was afterwards amended by the Load 

 Line A61 of 1 890. The disc was, prior to 1 8go, placed on 

 the vessel by the owner, at any position he thought proper, 

 but being so placed, and the agreement being signed 

 with the crew, it could not be altered ; the vessel there- 

 fore could not be loaded beyond a certain point. The 

 marking of the deck and load line discs, were applicable 

 to all British ships unless under 80 tons, employed solely 

 in the coasting trade, in fishing, or to pleasure yachts. 

 With respedl to the marking of the load lines on British 

 ships in the coasting trade which were above 80 tons, 

 the marking was imperative. 



By the Aft of 1890, instead of the owner fixing the 

 position of the load line disc, it was to be done by the 

 Board of Trade, in accordance with the tables of the 

 Load Line Committee of 1885. 



In 1892 a further Act was passed, which provides under 

 Sec. I. that :—'* Every ship so loaded as to submerge in 



