In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before commercial fertilizer’s invention, so large shipments of manure were common to those areas not blessed with an abundant natural supply.
It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by-product is methane gas.
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, B O O O O M!
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 term “Ship 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.” (ship high in transport) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.
7 Comments
.. what a load of shit… is that true?..
As Ed would say, “I did not know that.” I did know, however, that the the first name of Rice University was Sam Houston Institute of Technology (SHIT), but was rejected. At least that’s the story I heard while living in Houston – probably an urban legend. Heh.
Oxford English Dictionary makes first refernce to the word in 1300s so it cannot be a true story.
Don’t know about the story…it was good reading, but I have a commemorative hat made by the Forest Service which was banned immediately after it was printed…S.H.I.T…..St.Helen’s Inspection Team…for the geologists that were monitoring the mountain after the eruption.
shit happens.
Shit derived from the German word schisse or Shitten. It comes from old old english which is closely related to German
There are so many stories on this. As a graduate of Stevens Tech in Hoboken NJ we also were told that It used to be called Stevens Hoboken Institute of Technology S.H.I.T. but they dropped the Hoboken and we were know as SIT.
Who knows?