An analytical method for the free vibration of a flexible rectangular plate in contact with water is developed by the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The plate clamped along the edges is partially contacted with water at both sides. It is assumed that the contained water is incompressible and inviscid. The wet mode shape of the plate is assumed as a combination of the dry mode shapes of a clamped beam. The liquid motion is described by using the liquid displacement potential and determined by using the compatibility conditions along the liquid interface with the plate. Minimizing the Rayleigh quotient based on the energy conservation gives an eigenvalue problem. It is found that the theoretical results can predict excellently the fluid-coupled natural frequencies comparing with the finite element analysis result.