Sea mud - does it really stink

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Mar 2005
Messages
12,954
Location
Buckingham
www.keepturningleft.co.uk
There was a recent thread on here where a poster mentioned stinking east coast mud

does sea mud smell of anything other than the sea

As you may know, I love the stuff for it glistening sensuous silkiness - but the only time I came across smelly east coast mud was at the top of the coln near the Colchester sewage outfall.

By the time the pathogens have got down stream to where the oysters live - yum yum - it smells of nothing more than the sea.

My experience as a food hack means that I recognise that I do not have the best palate in the world - and by definition not a wonderful sense of smell.

So does it really stink - surely not

Dylan
 
dylanwinter said:
There was a recent thread on here where a poster mentioned stinking east coast mud

does sea mud smell of anything other than the sea

As you may know, I love the stuff for it glistening sensuous silkiness - but the only time I came across smelly east coast mud was at the top of the coln near the Colchester sewage outfall.

By the time the pathogens have got down stream to where the oysters live - yum yum - it smells of nothing more than the sea.

My experience as a food hack means that I recognise that I do not have the best palate in the world - and by definition not a wonderful sense of smell.

So does it really stink - surely not



Dylan
Click to expand...

I can vouch that some of it is very smelly indeed and the smell lingers on your skin despite lots of washing.
There was a story in JDS's Old Harry Tales where he could navigate by the smell and taste of the sea bed that came up on his lead line.
All went well until one day he passed astern of the PLA sewage slurry disposal barge.
 
Down here in Chichester harbour, the mud is notorious.

At Dell Quay, below the Apuldram sewage there is regular tidal scouring and the mud, though potent is not too bad for smell - not pleasant, but liveable with, although it has the consistency of pitch.

Further west at the top of the Thornham channel, no outfalls, few streams, and very little current except just as the flats start to cover - and the mud if disturbed can kill at 25 paces!. When I have been working on my mooring, my wife complains even after washing my hands several times, followed by a soak in good hot tub, she can still smell it! Mud spattered clothes have to go through the washer twice, too.
 
that has put me right then

I know that smell is subjective

but I had no idea that it smelt that bad

I guess it is us humans with our effluvia that makes the mud smell bad

maybe east coast mud smells batter than solent mud

but then I think that horse smell is a nice smell

maybe I have always associated the gentle odour of east coast mud with great times afloat

I do remember large numbers of Johnnies floating around the Orwell

never see them nowdays

D
 
Last edited:
:eek::eek:

the Thames Mud of 50 years ago was not like it now, for sure. In them thar days pollution, drift wood and chemicals were more evident that now. The PLA drift wood collector barge was on daily patrols collecting timber, wood and such like from the City part of the river.

But, perhaps, the city mud had a natural way of filtering itself of the effluent etc and all was not that bad.

certainly, MoodySabre had survived it all, and certainly does not show any signs of an ill effect from it.
 
Last edited:
I'd have guessed that the smell of the mud would depend on how much organic matter is decomposing anaerobically as that would produce hydrogen sulphide and a rotten eggy smell.
 
dylanwinter said:
I know that smell is subjective

but I had no idea that it smelt that bad

I guess it is us humans with our effluvia that makes the mud smell bad

maybe east coast mud smells batter than solent mud

but then I think that horse smell is a nice smell

maybe I have always associated the gentle odour of east coast mud with great times afloat

I do remember large numbers of Johnnies floating around the Orwell

never see them nowdays

D
Click to expand...

It's not just humans that sh*t in the sea you know.

Ever seen whale sh*t? As I recall you have a sea toilet on the slug or do you always hold on and do it ashore?

I think not.
 
fisherman said:
Mud from the open sea, down to 45 fathoms, doesn't stink.
Click to expand...

Sandy bottoms are generally clean, and silty mud which is actively used by prawns burrowing is fine, but anywhere else I've dived it stinks once you get under the first few inches of surface mud.
 
aslabend said:
I'd have guessed that the smell of the mud would depend on how much organic matter is decomposing anaerobically as that would produce hydrogen sulphide and a rotten eggy smell.
Click to expand...

Yup, anaerobic digestion producing biogas, which used to be called sewer gas. Mostly methane but with an added dash of hydrogen sulphide and just a soupçon of other undesirables.
 
The mud in Morecambe Bay doesnt smell-at least it didnt 50 or so years ago when we used to play in it-probably because it has quite a high fine glacial sand content.
As for sewerage works I once stranded my old boat balanced on the top edge of what then was Blackpools sewerage outfall on the River Wyre on a falling spring tide.
At low tide it was a 20 foot deep chanel-if my boat had settled the other way it might have ended up mast down in the chanel.
In setting up warps to get myself out of trouble when the tide again rose the following night I grazed my finger and it went septic!
Also suffered a septic cut whilst windsurfing off Royanne at the mouth of the Garonne.Mind you the Garonne stripped the chrome plate of my car keys which I used to carry around my wrist!
 
If you want to smell real s**ty mud try up the Fal just below Malpas at low water.
Just below the Truro sewerage plant.
Its where they gather the oysters for the Falmouth Festival.............not all of them get cleaned :D
 
Having sailed on the east coast for about 45 years I have plentiful experience of the gloop. It most certainly does smell - of the sea. That is true whether you are covered in it from head to toe or simply surrounded by it.

The idea of "smelly mud" is one of those received notions that are repeated uncritically and, sometimes, dogmatically as "something everybody knows." I once challenged one such dogmatic believer to close her eyes, sniff as much as she liked and tell me which of my two hands was east coast muddy and which, simply, wet. She was surprised to find she couldn't do it. And yet, when she could see the mud, she was quite sure she could smell it. Such is the power of suggestion.
 
Boating just south of Abingdon on the Thames used to be an enriching experience.

Up until the 60's there was an open sewage 'farm' known in the family as the Treacle Mines. Acres and acres of open fields where the sewage gradually biodegraded and was eventually dug up and returned to the land as fertiliser.

From our house, just North of the 'farm', when the wind was from the South on a warm day, my gran used to say "take deep breaths boy it will make you grow!" Strange I used to think, she was a very short lady.??
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top