. If too much weight is in the uppe

. If too much weight is in the upper decks of the ship， the ship will have a small amount of stability and be in a condition known as tender. If too much weight is concentrated in the lower holds， the ship will have an excess of stability and be in a condition known as stiff. The tender ship has a long， slow， easy roll. The stiff ship has a fast， whiplike roll that makes her especially uncomfortable in a heavy sea and is often the cause of cargo shifting transversely.If a ship is excessively stiff， she will roll with such violent motion that damage to the ship can be caused by heavy wracking stresses on the hull. Some of the defects caused by these heavy wracking stresses will be apparent immediately after they occur， such as cracks appearing in a porthole or in window glass in the superstructure， standard compasses being whipped from their pedestals， and topmasts or antennas being shaken loose. Some defects having their basic cause in these wracking stresses will never be attributed to the improper vertical distribution of the cargo. These defects， which may not be discovered until the ship undergoes a thorough inspection in a dry dock， include cracked seams， hull weeps， and leaking tanks.