This was a fairly common event in the 1800`s UK Merchant Navy. Many sailors signed their articles of agreement, a contract between them and the ships owners, before seeing the ship they were to sail on. If they then saw the ship and thought it dangerous they sometimes absconded. The ship owners could then use the full power of the law to have them imprisoned, sometimes for as long as 3 months in jail. Many ships were badly maintained and/or overloaded to obtain maximum profit and were literal death traps. If, as often happened, the ships sunk the owners simply claimed on the insurance. The owners sometimes over insured ships in the knowledge they were likely to sink so they could claim more insurance than the ships were worth. These kind of ships were called `Coffin Ships`, not to be confused with the slavery ships and those transporting poor people from Ireland and Scotland, which were also called coffins ships due to the awful hygiene experienced by the emigrants.
It was only after legislation was brought in the late 1800`s, mainly by the celebrated Samuel Plimsoll, that the so called Plimsoll line had to be painted on all ships. This was the maximum height that cargo be loaded up to. It led to more safety measures being used. Until that happened a sailors life in the merchant navy was the most dangerous occupation in Great Britain.
