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...

Waterline refers to an imaginary line marking the level at which ship or boat floats in the water. To an observer on the ship the water appears to rise or fall against the hull . Temperature also affects the level because warm water provides less...

A Japanese whaling ship returned to port from Antarctica Friday with a catch of 508 whales, despite having its annual hunt cut short by a deadly fire.The Nisshin Maru's hunt had triggered a high-seas showdown with environmental groups even before the fire, and Greenpeace issued...

IRobot Corp., the maker of robots to clean carpets and hard floors, has decided the water is warm enough in the pool-cleaning market to take a swim there, too.The maker of consumer and military robots said it will sell two pricey models of lawn-mower-sized pool...

An anti-whaling group's boat and a Japanese whale-spotting vessel collided in Antarctic waters Monday during violent clashes over a pod of whales, conservationists and Japanese officials said.The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said a 3-foot gash was torn into the hull of its ship, the Robert...

Robert Zemeckis used Beowulf (No. 1), once the scourge of high-school English classes nationwide, to lure unsuspecting children and families to the box office this weekend, promising a 3-D spectacle the likes the which they had never seen. Improbably, he ended the weekend at...