kindredspirit
Well-known member
While sitting indoors listening to the wind and rain today, I thought I would tell you this true fact.
In the 16th and 17th centuries everything was transported by ship. It was also pre the introduction of commercial fertilisers so large shipments of manure were common.
In dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once in contact with seawater the substance not only became heavier, the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product was methane gas.
As the stuff was stored below decks in hessian bundles you can see what could (and did) happen......... Methane would begin to build up below decks and when the first person went below at night with a lantern...........BOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner, (3 off the Cornish coast) before it was determined just what was happening. Once discovered, the bundles of manure were always stamped with s.h.i.t. which instructed sailers to "ship high in transit"
In other words high enough off the lower decks so that water which came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and thus start the production of methane. And all the time I thought it was a golfing term!
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In the 16th and 17th centuries everything was transported by ship. It was also pre the introduction of commercial fertilisers so large shipments of manure were common.
In dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once in contact with seawater the substance not only became heavier, the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product was methane gas.
As the stuff was stored below decks in hessian bundles you can see what could (and did) happen......... Methane would begin to build up below decks and when the first person went below at night with a lantern...........BOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner, (3 off the Cornish coast) before it was determined just what was happening. Once discovered, the bundles of manure were always stamped with s.h.i.t. which instructed sailers to "ship high in transit"
In other words high enough off the lower decks so that water which came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and thus start the production of methane. And all the time I thought it was a golfing term!
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