Ships Garbage.

[Keith Tindell]

I can recall on the Stirling Castle the gash shute for the deck crew being in use in harbour in SA. On later ships i was on, although smaller ships, there were two 45 gallon drums on block and tackle over the stern, and once clear of harbour were up ended, and hosed out. This was early 60s, regards KT

[Tony Wilding]

hi , were there any special regulations during the war regarding heaving the gash over the side, ?

[John Arton]

Tony
Interesting point that, I cannot give the answer to obviously but.
Was watching QI last night and there was a couple of interesting snippets regarding the war such as
You were not allowed to send knitted patterned sweaters or socks to P.O.W.'s in case the pattern contained code.
You were not allowed to put X's at the end of your letters as again it could me mis-interpreted as code.
questions were all about words starting with the letter K.
The latest knot invented was in 1987 and was called the European something or other (must pay more attention)
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

In the early 70"s and possibly in the late 60"s if you arrived in Montreal and there was no garbage on board, the ship was heavily fined. The Health and port Authorities assumed you had dumped in the River. We always arrived with the usual 2 or 3 drums over the stern inboard also as was another regulation, half full. Caught dumping garbage anywhere now and you are liable for prosecution, hence most ships are fitted with incinerators. John Sabourn

[John Arton]

John S
Latest amendments to MARPOL now prevent any food waste being dumped into the sea unless it has first been ground up to less than 1mm if you are within 12 miles of land.
Also hatch sweepings can no longer be dumped unless you are 25? miles from land.
Talking about Montreal and Canada, can anyone recall when the requirement to only have Canadian or USA sourced meat in use when you were in Canada ended, meaning that there was always a separate stock of meat in the freezer for use when in port in Canada.
rgds
JA

[Jim Brady]

I was in Montreal I think it was early 60's on the Emp,Of Britain.A guy that worked in the silver room went bananas and threw all the silver down the galley sht shute,I cant remember if that used to be screwed down in port or left open.He dumped that much silver coffee pots,tea pots and water jugs etc that the company had to call in divers to retrieve it.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[j.sabourn]

I worked out of Montreal for 11 months and was there every 6 weeks as worked for Saguenay Terminals of Montreal 1060 University Street. This was in 1968. Weird as it seems now the disposal of garbage was no problem as Skips were supplied on the quayside for same. As most ports in the world also do this any problems never arose. One of the most strictest countries in the world is Australia, and believe most vessels have to get clearance for the discharge of ballast water so have to produce records of when and where ship was ballasted, this is in case of certain microbes in the water damaging the coral reefs etc etc. When I think back to my early days at sea, and if as some pundits believe the seas ever dry up, there will be one massive heap of garbage lying there, the North Sea especially must be like one big cess pit ditto the Mediterranean. John Sabourn

[John Arton]

Jim B.
Your story about some one tossing all the silver over the side reminds me of when I was in C.P., on their cargo boats there never was C.P. embossed tea pots, knives, forks etc. and there never was carpets in cabins until much later on. On the Fir we had teaspoons from virtually every hotel in the S. Coast of England, don't ask me how they came on board.
C.P. used to have a huge warehouse in Liverpool full of top quality carpets for the Empress's plus all the Dinner services etc. When they moved down to London this ware house was put up for Auction but before it could be auctioned it was brought for a song by (rumour had it) the head of shore purchasing, who then proceeded to sell a lot of the contents back to C.P. (who were going through a big expansion program at the time) at a huge profit.
This was the same guy who when on the bulkers we used to get three months stores delivered to the continent by a U.K. based outfit, the truck would divert to a private house in the S. of England to fill up a certain persons freezer in his garage.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
rgds
JA

[Stuart Henderson]

Im fairly certain when I first went to sea as galley boy in late forties no gargage was dumped overboard (officially at least) in Londons docks. Heard of silver & crockery being dumped usually to get off duty quicker especially on passie boats UCL, SA etc. In fact saw evidence of this whilst keaning over the rail with cup of tea watching a dredger operating alongside. Also recall in KGV or RA Dock London a dredger recovered a car plus longdead driver but this was quite a few years later fifties/sixties. It was always said if Atlantic dried up you could hike there to NY following empty beer bottles/cans on former sea bed....
Stuart

[leratty]

I recall the Peggy doing the Rosie dump run twice a day or maybe after each meal but the worst I experienced was a steward who went to the dunny when they were closed....when we were over the side painting (of course whilst alongside) & I copped his effluent in my lap & over my chest much to the others hilarity. It was the only time I belted, forgive the pun, crap out of anyone. I was back on deck running the cretin down he was like a cornered rat the way he tried to get away. I bet he never forgot it as I was beyond a lost temper I was in a rage I had to be hauled off him by the Lampy & Bosun!
What about all the dunnage etc we used to throw over the side unbelievable thinking about it now.
The worst I saw whilst at sea was my only trip on a tanker a Shell one. She was a chemical tanker which makes it so much worse, we used the Butterworth system to clean the tanks sending it all into the beautiful Caribbean, what a tragedy. I was at the beginning of my becoming a environmentalist no not a tree hugger & after working in the mining oil & gas sector for a few years seeing what went on there I went off to do an environmental engineering degree just before working on the then huge Alaska oil-gas pipeline project which was the for runner of environmental best practise. I have never regretted going that route though experienced in Mongolia & China some unbelievable environmental nightmares of which many would still be I am sure going on in that sector.