The Confessional

[Aja]

In the latest issue of Yachting Monthly there is a confession regarding water quality where there is a post script.

"PS: In 1994 the The City of Glasgow shipped and dumped all its effluent off Largs daily......"

I'm sure the contribute meant that the effluent was produced by the good citizens of Glasgow.
For clarity the effluent was shipped and dumped by the good ships Dalmarnock and Shieldhall.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

In the latest issue of Yachting Monthly there is a confession regarding water quality where there is a post script.

"PS: In 1994 the The City of Glasgow shipped and dumped all its effluent off Largs daily......" ...

The dumping location is also wrong, all the effluent was dumped south of Garroch Head, by The Garroch Head and other vessels. The chart is marked with the spoil ground, there was never a spoil ground off Largs. In the 80's I had the misfortune of having The Garroch Head sail around me as it pumped out the slurry. The stink was incredible, the sea was covered in a greasy film and bits of johnny bag and sanitary towels merrily floated about.

Sludge boat rounds its final bend in river

... All this while disposing of Glasgow's sewage four kilometres off the boat's namesake on the southern extremity of Bute. ...

This is from the days when The Herald was just starting its slip to the gutter from being a fairly decent rag.

 

[awol]

And now the Shieldhall takes pensioners for day trips on the south coast just like it used to do while dumping shite in the Clyde

 

[RobbieW]

And now the Shieldhall takes pensioners for day trips on the south coast just like it used to do while dumping shite in the Clyde

The SS doesnt necessarily stand for SteamShip

 

[dancrane]

I may be missing the humour - but I'm reluctant to hear anything malodorous about Shieldhall, even if it's the truth.
Her presence in the Solent raises a happy smile from everyone that sees her (or hears her distinctive siren ).

 

[Stemar]

IIRC, the London equivalents were known as Bovril boats because of what they did to the water. ?

 

[RivalRedwing]

certainly were:
The "Bovril Boats" - Shipping Today & Yesterday Magazine (shippingtandy.com)

 

[mjcoon]

IIRC, the London equivalents were known as Bovril boats because of what they did to the water. ?

I wonder if Bovril themselves thought that all publicity is good publicity?...

 

[dancrane]

I wonder what difference it made to the local ecosystem, to have all that 'Bovril' added regularly, and whether it was an improvement when it stopped. Presumably some organisms thrived on it.

EDIT: Apparently only bacteria thrived on it.
It was, and where the practice continues, it is, environmentally catastrophic.

Evidently the fact that we don't ship the crap offshore anymore, doesn't end the problem. We don't have the infrastructure for the effluent we're producing. It's woeful that during wet periods we can't store enough water to control the outflowing mix of sewage and of rainwater. Capturing more of the latter might also help alleviate our droughts.

 

[Blueboatman]

Who can forget the Langstone gravy boat heading out to the Nab , if you happen to be in that vicinity on passage

 

[Biggles Wader]

Not allowed to take effluent away by barge these days so they just open the taps and spew it out onto the beaches and into the rivers. Progress eh?

 

[Stemar]

Not allowed to take effluent away by barge these days so they just open the taps and spew it out onto the beaches and into the rivers. Progress eh?

Southern Effluent Water Don't get me started! ?

 

[Poignard]

The most malodorous vessels I ever encountered were the notorious foo-foo boats at Shanghai. These open hold vessels carried 'night soil' from the city to outlying farms.

Presumably they were known as foo-foo boats because when one became aware of the stinking miasma surrounding them one would say "foo foo" before clapping a handkerchief over one's nose.

 

[Aja]

I wonder what difference it made to the local ecosystem, to have all that 'Bovril' added regularly, and whether it was an improvement when it stopped. Presumably some organisms thrived on it.

EDIT: Apparently only bacteria thrived on it.
It was, and where the practice continues, it is, environmentally catastrophic.

Evidently the fact that we don't ship the crap offshore anymore, doesn't end the problem. We don't have the infrastructure for the effluent we're producing. It's woeful that during wet periods we can't store enough water to control the outflowing mix of sewage and of rainwater. Capturing more of the latter might also help alleviate our droughts.

There is what is considered a delicacy that I wouldn't touch - the Cumbrae prawn.

I kid you not.

 

[alan_d]

I may be missing the humour - but I'm reluctant to hear anything malodorous about Shieldhall, even if it's the truth.
Her presence in the Solent raises a happy smile from everyone that sees her (or hears her distinctive siren ).

Interesting report HERE about the afterlife of the equivalent Edinburgh vessel MV Gardyloo.

 

[dancrane]

Very nice - there can be a happy, fairly fragrant retirement for these old ships.

 

[Bajansailor]

Who can forget the Langstone gravy boat heading out to the Nab , if you happen to be in that vicinity on passage

I remember how the sewage used to be discharged just outside the entrance to Langstone Harbour - usually they did it when the tide was ebbing, but not always........ it would literally be a brown river flowing out, with hundreds of seagulls in attendance - they seemed to like to eat the stuff....
In the summer of 1989 a Dutch dredging company called HAM (now part of the Boskalis group I think) had a contract to dig a 4 mile long trench for a 'long sea outfall' pipe to take the sewage a bit further out - I had a temporary job then working on one of the tugs supporting one of the dredgers involved.
I could not really see the point of simply sending it a few miles further out into the Solent, at vast expense (I seem to remember a quoted cost of about GBP 30 odd million, and this was 33 years ago) but it was an interesting job, with good pay.

 

[Frank Holden]

Back when Noah was a deckboy and I was just a pup I recall steaming up the Thames to South West India Docks - on the ebb - through a sea of 'rubber goods'.
Ditto about the same time going on a 'tourist canal boat ' ride in Amsterdam. Everyone else going Ooo Aaaah over the canal side buildings - I was going Oooh Eeeer and wondering about the sea intakes.