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Cattle Ships: Being the Fifth Chapter of Mr Plimsoll's Second Appeal for Our Seamen
Cattle Ships: Being the Fifth Chapter of Mr Plimsoll's Second Appeal for Our Seamen

Cattle Ships: Being the Fifth Chapter of Mr Plimsoll's Second Appeal for Our Seamen

Author (1824 - 1898)
Publisher
Date1890
Object number00028348
NameBook
MediumInk on paper, cloth
DimensionsOverall: 225 x 165 x 22 mm, 0.65 kg
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis book 'Cattle Ships: Being the Fifth Chapter of Mr Plimsoll's Second Appeal for Our Seamen' was written by Samuel Plimsoll in 1890 in response to the treatment of livestock at sea.HistorySamuel Plimsoll (1824-1898) was a well known and influential British Politician who gained immortality with his actions to prevent the ill treatment of sailors at the hands of insurance and shipping companies. In 1868, he introduced a Bill into parliament to regulate shipping and prevent the overloading of vessels. When the Bill was not passed, he printed a small booklet entitled 'Our Seamen' which examined these 'coffin ships'. The booklet generated so much interest that in 1873 he was able to get a Royal Commission appointed to consider the matter. As a direct result the government introduced (after two attempts) The 1876 Merchant Shipping Act which gave the Board of Trade strict powers on ship inspection and required all vessels to carry a safe loading mark (called The Plimsoll Line/Mark). Plimsoll later became president of the Sailor's and Fireman's Union and campaigned against the conditions on-board Trans-Atlantic, New Zealand and Australian livestock vessels. SignificanceSamuel Plimsoll's book 'Cattle Ships: Being the Fifth Chapter of Mr Plimsoll's Second Appeal for Our Seamen' is a damming criticism of shipping and insurance companies and their ill-treatment of ships, seaman and livestock. Like his first book 'Our Seamen' it generated considerable public anger, and in 1891 a parliamentary committee issued a number of recommendations into the safe transport of livestock at sea as a result of his book.