Gross Tonnage
Modern equivalent
Total enclosed space ÷ 100 cubic feet
The total enclosed volume of a vessel, reckoned in register tons of 100 cubic feet.
Gross tonnage counts everything enclosed within the hull and superstructure: holds, cabins, engine room, boilers, coal bunkers, the lot. Divide that volume by a hundred cubic feet and you have the figure.
It is the number usually quoted when a ship is described as being of so many tons, and it is the one most often misunderstood, because nothing has been weighed. A ship of 10,000 gross tons encloses a million cubic feet of space.