The hull damage accidents during the voyage may cause the environmental pollution and the safety problem of the life and belongings of the crew onboard. It is also of great concern to the international shipping industry. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS Convention) has evolved for over 100 years since it was firstly proposed in 1914. The regulations on ship damage stability have experienced from the deterministic damage to the equivalent probabilistic damage, and then to the harmonization of probabilistic damage of passenger ships and cargo ships based on formal safety assessment, involving continuous development and improvement of the study of the ship damage stability and relevant regulations. It briefly introduces the development of the international ship damage stability based on SOLAS Convention, and presents the driving force and direction of the development of the regulations combined with several damage accidents and relevant studies. The development of the damage stability is summarized in order to deepen the understanding of the current regulations, which is beneficial to the safety design of ships.