Tuesday 5 March 2013

Joke Tuesday.

MANURE.. An interesting fact

Manure: In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be
transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial
fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when
wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier,
but the process of fermentation began again, of which a byproduct is
methane gas of course. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles
you can see what could (and did) happen.
Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came
below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined
just what was happening

After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the
instruction ' Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the
sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water
that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start
the production of methane.

Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T ' , (Stow High In Transit) which has
come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word.

Neither did I.

I had always thought it was a golf term.

6 comments:

Karelian Blonde said...

Drivel and wisdom! How rare :)

Pat said...

Blow me down!
I am reading 'The life of Pi' and he - desperately hungry - attempts to eat his travelling companion's poo. The TC is a tiger.
It was so hard he added some precious water but regretted it as the taste was foul.
No surprise there then.
RE you story what about the effect of rain?

Unknown said...

KB, but of course! x

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Pat, there you go!x

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Why don't they teach history like this in schools?