Intact stability criteria of ships – Past, present and future

•An original historical analysis of the development of international intact stability criteria is included.•Weak points, delays and their origin are identified.•The paper presents a state of the art and the foreseeable future developments.

This paper contains a brief excursus of the developments of intact stability of ships through the time from stone age, through historical period, modern age, renaissance, completion of the first intact stability code, beginning of development of 2nd generation intact stability criteria, present status and the foreseeable future developments.