We went a bit overboard back then
A timely meditation on what is and isn’t permissible to jettison over the side
When I was small and fishing for pollack among the outlying rocks of Scilly, it was easy to feel somewhat lost. We would be in a heavy punt, my father rowing, us fisherfolk sitting facing aft on a plank balanced across the gunwales and little if any land in sight. Among the chief aids to navigation were the dog-ends of the Senior Service chainsmoked by my ex-naval uncle, strung out in a line across the inky swells with an empty packet every twenty butts.
In our more enlightened age, such practices would raise eyebrows. Harmful to the health, would go the chorus. And not much good for the marine environment. This is not a view that finds favour with all yachtsmen. Extreme right-wingers see it as a threat to their personal freedom from a lot of nimby bearded closet Communists.
Others are more moderate in their views, but still the suspicion is there that the ocean is large, and the power of yachties to pollute it small. It is therefore time to consider what can go over the side, and what can’t.
OK stuff. Water is all right, obviously, though wine dregs, particularly of Argentine origin, are probably not. Also OK is organic refuse that came out of the sea in the first place, like spare sardines, rotten mackerel and surplus mermaids. And of course there are lobster pots with buoys and stout tail lines, and anchors, which are definitely absolutely fine, particularly if you want your boat to stay in the same place for a while. Moorings were traditionally anchored to the seabed by the cylinder block of a Bedford lorry, well dug in. A well-maintained cylinder block could still be leaking oil five years after burial, though, so while recycling is an excellent thing, this particular example was by no means beneficial. The current practice of using the wheels of railway wagons as anchors is an improvement, as there is little or no oil involved, plus of course it is always greener to use the train, or anyway part of it.
Not OK stuff. It is scarcely worth mentioning that tipping large quantities of antifouling and insecticide into the sea is not a good idea, and the same goes for petrol, diesel and atom bombs. Studies now show that there is so much plastic in the oceans, in lumps ranging from Spanish polytunnel covers to the infinitesimal powders they put in toothpaste to give sailors that radiant white smile, that fish, turtles, whales etc are now largely made of polythene.
Organic refuse originating from the heads of yachts is also a bit of a difficulty, as anyone who has sent the children swimming in the brown and lumpy waters of Studland Bay during an easterly will attest. Holding tanks, anyone? And of course there are anchors of new and perhaps untried patterns, light as feathers and with roughly the same holding power.
Debatable stuff. It has become apparent that a lot of boats that sail offshore carry a short, heavy iron bar of a calibre that allows it to pass through the neck of a wine bottle. Having finished the contents of the bottle the mariner holds it over the side, sticks bar through neck, and knocks out the bottom of the bottle, which is allowed to fall into the sea, closely followed by the rest of it. Devotees of this practice claim that the debris will make a charming home for a moulting crab, and that glass is just melted sand anyway, and what do you think the bottom of the sea is made of, eh? The same goes for metal, normally though not always in the form of cans. Crushed under a heel, these will volplane to the seabed like little flying saucers and sit there decomposing into their constituent elements pending Judgement Day.
Obviously the above is not an exhaustive list. Many would maintain that things that should not be put into the water for fear of pollution include marinas and the retail magnate [Sir] Philip Green. There is a line to be drawn, but exactly where is up to the individual conscience, which may hinge on factors as diverse as a deep affection for dolphins, or whether the mother-in-law is wallowing downtide of the gashcan. Gone are the days when the sea was the uncle’s ashtray. Try this as a rule of thumb: unless it came out of the sea in the first place it is probably a good idea to bring it home.
It is scarcely worth mentioning that tipping large quantities of antifouling and insecticide into the sea is not a good idea