Archimedes principle states that when a body is wholly immersed in a fluid it

suffers an apparent loss of weight which is equal to the weight of fluid displaced.

A modified version of Archimedes principle which suits ships maybe called the Principle of
flotation.

Principle of flotation states when a body is floating in a liquid, the weight of liquid
displaced equals to the weight of the body.

Displacement is used to denote the mass of a ship. The unit is in tonnes. It is the mass of
water displaced by a ship when floating freely. The mass of water displaced equal to the mass
of the ship.

Light displacement is the mass of the empty ship i.e. without any cargo, fuel, lubricating
oil, ballast water, fresh water in tanks, consumable stores, passengers and crew and their
effects.

Load displacement is the total mass of the ship when she is floating in salt water with her
summer load line at the water surface.
Present displacement is the mass of the ship at present. It is the sum of the light
displacement of the ship and everything on board at present.

Deadweight (DWT) of a ship total mass of cargo, fuel, freshwater etc. that a ship can
carry when she is floating in salt water with her summer load line at the water surface.

DWT of a ship is load displacement minus light displacement.

Deadweight aboard is the total mass of cargo, fuel, ballast, freshwater etc. on board at
present.

DWT aboard is present displacement minus light displacement.

Deadweight available is the total mass off cargo, fuel, freshwater etc. which can be put
on the ship at present to bring her summer load line to the water surface in salt water.

DWT available is the load displacement minus present displacement.

Reserve buoyancy is the volume of the enclosed spaces above the waterline. It may be
expressed as a volume in cubic metres or as a percentage of the total volume of the ship.

RB is total vol. minus underwater vol.

RB in % is above water vol. / total vol. multiplied by 100.

Reserve buoyancy though not displacing any water at that time, it is available for displacement if
weights are added or if accidental ingress of water takes place like underwater damage.

The volume of water displaced is the under-water volume of the ship.

Buoyancy or displacement is the upward thrust experienced by the ship.

When the ship is floating freely, its displacement (or buoyancy) equals to its weight.

The weight of the ship is therefore referred to as displacement (W).

W = Volume of water x Density of water displaced OR W = Underwater volume x Density
of water of ship displaced.

Centre of Gravity (G) and Centre of Buoyancy (B)

Box Shaped Vessel Centre of Gravity (G)

In Fig 1, the C of G is the point at which the entire weight of a body may be considered as
concentrated so that if supported at this point the body would be balanced. The location of a
body’s centre of gravity may coincide with the geometric centre of the body, especially in a
symmetrically shaped object composed of all the same material.

Centre of Buoyancy (B)

The centre of buoyancy is the centre of the underwater volume of a vessel. It is the point
through which the up thrust of the water surrounding the vessel may be considered to act. The
position of B is dependent on the shape of the underwater portion of the vessel, in the case of a
box shaped vessel it is found by drawing diagonals from the water line to the opposite
submerged corner of the vessel, as shown in Fig2.
Change of draft due to change of density of water.

If the density of the water is more, ship would displace less volume of water (less draft). And if
density of the water is lesser, it would need to displace more volume of water (more draft) to
have same weight as of the ship itself.

When a ship moves from water of one density to water of another density, without there being a
change in the mass, the draft would change. This happens because the ship must displace the
same mass of water in each case. Because the density of the water has changed, the volume of
water displaced must also change.