In the mid-1800s, Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898), an unemployed British coal merchant, became acquainted with the unjust treatment of the impoverished, particularly with regard to the poor working conditions on British cargo ship s. Nicknamed "coffin ships," British vessels were largely unseaworthy due to their shoddy construction and merchants' tendencies to overload them. Many lives were lost at sea as a result of these factors. Shipowners heavily insured their vessels, and so were indifferent to any loss they might suffer, whether it was a loss of merchandise or human lives. In 1873, Plimsoll expressed his outrage by publishing Our Seamen, a popular book that exposed and heavily criticized the gross injustices of the shipping industry. Primarily as a result of Plimsoll's actions, the Merchant Shipping Act was passed in 1876. The Act mandated strict inspection of all vessels and required the painting of a special mark, called the...