February 10 marks the 189th birthday of Samuel Plimsoll an English politician and social reformer. He is best noted for the eponimous Plimsoll Line on merchant vessels – a line that indicate the maximum safe draft (and minimum freeboard) under various operating conditions.
Also a name for what I call sneakers:
[The name Plimsoll for rubber-soled canvas shoes] derived, according to Nicholette Jones’ book The Plimsoll Sensation, because the coloured horizontal band joining the upper to the sole resembled the Plimsoll line on a ship’s hull, or because, just like the Plimsoll line on a ship, if water got above the line of the rubber sole, the wearer would get wet.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 