The Plimsoll Sensation

The story of a Victorian philanthropist who reformed shipping laws, saved thousands of sailors'' lives and became a national hero''A story of ambition, treachery, libel, political intrigue and cold-blooded murder on a mass scale'' Herald''Nicolette Jones charts Plimsoll''s course with skill, insight and elegance'' Sunday Telegraph''Splendid and meticulously researched'' GuardianIn the second half of the nineteenth century, an astonishing campaign stirred a nation to save the lives of the hundreds of British sailors who were drowning unnecessarily every year. Overladen and ill-repaired ships set sail, their doomed crews sacrificed while mercenary shipowners profited from the insurance. Samuel Plimsoll blew the whistle on these scandalous practices, devoting his life to a campaign for maritime reform. Plimsoll caught the public imagination: under his banner working men and women stood side by side with enlightened aristocrats and industrialists, their clamour almost toppling a prime minister.

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