Symbol 53:16

53:16 ·
This ideogram is known as the Plimsoll mark (after its inventor, the
British coal merchant and MP Plimsoll, living in the latter half of
the nineteenth century, who took a great interest in the safety of
cargo ships). The ideogram
was introduced in 1870
and painted on the sides of ships by the water line. The letters stood
for different parts of the oceans with their different concentrations
of salt, i.e. different abilities to bear ships' weights.
This is a Plimsoll mark on a Swedish ship, so the letter markings
are others on for instance American ships. VNA, however, in Sweden
denotes winter freeboard in the North Atlantic,
and SSV means summer freeboard in sweet water. Each
line indicates the allowed freeboard in the part of the oceans where
the ship is transporting cargo.



