Posted by: dawesboat  read more »

Posted by: oiyher  read more »

Secrets of a successful Interent Business. Behind Closed Doors. - Iran says Iraq situation makes U.S. attack unlikely (Reuters) Reuters - Iran said on Sunday a “disastrous situation” facing the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with Washington’s domestic issues made any U.S. [...]

Withdrawn from paddling in a fresh breeze, I spent a Sunday, smoldering in intolerable gloom, entertaining my fastidious curiosity in the water line symbols marked amidships on each side of ships that show the limitations on the draught to which them may be loaded
We had a brief allusion to these water line marks in Shipping Law but as much as the subject was brushed past me, I was little surprised as they are significant to safety, to find a couple of international conventions and a flurry of amendments.
From the first official loading regulations in the island kingdom of Crete in 2,500 BC when vessels were required to pass loading and maintenance inspections to the laws of the Venetian Republic in the middle ages, that required vessels to be loaded to a maximum depth indicated by a fixed line marked on the side of the hull, it was in the 19th century when loading recommendations were introduced by London-based Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping in 1835. Lloyd’s Register recommended freeboards as a function of the depth of the hold - three inches per foot of depth -, and these recommendations became known as “Lloyd’s Rule”.  read more »