1898 kids' magazine: The Great Round World and What is Going On in it

Friday, June 3d, Samuel Plimsoll, known as the "sailors' friend," died in England. Plimsoll was the originator of the famous "Plimsoll mark," and this is what caused him to be called the sailors' friend. Many years ago it was the custom of unprincipled ship-owners to send their vessels to sea very much overloaded; this was done to save the expense of a double voyage, for in those days there were few steam merchantmen, and sailing-vessels oftentimes took months for their voyages. The Plimsoll mark is painted on the vessel to indicate how much cargo she should carry. When a vessel has her full cargo the Plimsoll mark is at the water-line; laws were passed making it illegal to load vessels so deeply as to sink this mark below the surface of the water, and in consequence sailors' lives are not risked in overloaded vessels.