The consequences associated with ships running aground depend very much on the soil characteristics of the sea bed and the geometrical shape of the ship bow. The penetration into the sea bed depends on these factors and the penetration is an important factor for the ship motion because it influences the ship heave and pitch motions as well as the friction between the ship and the soil. In this paper a rational calculation model is presented for the sea bed soil reaction forces on the ship bottom. The model is based on the assumption that the penetration of the ship bow generates a flow of pore water through the grain skeleton of the soil. The flow is governed by Darcy`s law and it is driven by the pressure of the pore water at the bow. In addition to this pore water pressure, the bow is subjected to the effective stresses in the grain skeleton at the bow surface. These stresses are determined by the theory of frictional soils in rupture. Frictional stresses on the bow surface are assumed to be related to the normal pressure by a simple Coulomb relation. The total soil reaction as a function of velocity and penetration is found by integration of normal pressure and frictional stresses over the surface of the bow. The analysis procedure is implemented in a computer program for time domain rigid body analysis of ships running aground and it is verified in the paper through a comparison of calculated stopping lengths, effective coefficients of friction, and sea bed penetrations with corresponding experimental results obtained by model tests as well as large, scale tests.