was also a belief that seals embodied the souls of drowned mariners.
The friendly dolphin invariably brings good luck to seafarers, and has
even been known to guide them to the right direction. As recently as
January 1989 the newspapers reported that an Australian swimmer who had
been attacked and wounded by a shark was saved from death only by the
intervention of a group of dolphins which drove off the predator.
Also worthy of mention here is another benevolent helper of seamen
lost in open boats: a kindly ghost known as the pilot of the “Pinta”. When
all seems lost he will appear in the bows of the boat and insistently point
the way to safety.
Other denizens of the deep inspired fear and terror. The water horse
of Wales and the Isle of Man – the kelpie of Scotland – grazes by the side
of the sea or loch. If anyone is rash enough to get on him, he rushes into
the water and drowns the rider; furthermore his back can conveniently
lengthen to accommodate any number of people. There are several tales
believed of the water horse, for example, if he is harnessed to a plough he
drags it into the sea. If he falls in love with a woman he may take the
form of a man to court her – only if she recognises his true nature from
the tell-tale sand in his hair will she have a chance of escaping, and then
she must steal away while he sleeps. Legnd says that the water horse also
takes the shape of an old woman; in this guise he is put to bed with a bevy
of beautiful maidens, but kills them all by sucking their blood, save for
one who manages to run away. He pursues her but she jumps a running brook
which, water horse though he is, he dare not cross.
Still more terrible are the many sea monsters of which stories are
told. One played havoc with the fish of the Solway Firth until the people
planted a row of sharpened stakes on which it impaled itself. Another
serpent – like creature, the Stoor Worm, was so huge that its body curled
about the earth. It took up residence off northern Scotland and made it
known that a weekly delivery of seven virgins was required, otherwise the
towns and villages would be devastated. Soon it was the turn of the king’s
daughter to be sacrificed, but her father announced that he would give her
in anyone who would rid him of the worm. Assipattle, the dreamy seventh son
of a farmer, took up the challenge and put to sea in a small boat with an
iron pot containing a glowing peat; he sailed into the monster’s mouth,
then down into its inside – after searching for some time he found the
liver, cut a hole in it, and inserted the peat . The liver soon began to
burn fiercely, and the worm retched out Assipattle and his boat. Its death
throes shook the world: one of its teeth became the Orkney Islands, the
other Shetland; the falling tongue scooped out the Baltic Sea, and the
burning liver turned into the volcanosof Iceland. The king kept his
promise, and the triumphant Assipattle married his daughter.
Perhaps, the most famous of all water monsters is that of Loch Ness,
first mentioned in a life of St Columba written in 700 AD.
Some 150 years earlier one of the saint’s followers was apparently
swimming in the loch when the monster “suddenly swam up to the surface, and
with gaping mouth and with great roaring rushed towards the man”.
Fortunately, Columba was watching and ordered the monster to turnback: it
obeyed. The creature (or its successor) then lay dormant for some 1 300
years, for the next recorded sighting was in 1871.
However, during the last fifty years there have been frequent reports
and controversies. In1987 a painstaking and and expencive sonar scan of the
loch revealed a moving object of some 400 lb in weight which scientists
were unable to identify. Sir Peter Scott dubbed the monster “Nessiterras
Rhombopteryx”, after the diamond – shaped fin shown on a photograph taken
by some American visitors; the Monster Exhibition Centre at Drumnadrochit
on Loch Ness describes it as “The World’s Greatest Mystery”. Tourists from
all over the world flock to visit Loch Ness, monster and centre.
NAUTICAL CUSTOMS
The seas will always be potentially dangerous for those who choose to
sail them and most seafarers tried hard to avoid incurring the wrath of
Davy Jones – they once were sometimes reluctant even to save drowning
comrades lest they deprive the deep of a victim which would serve as a
propitiatory sacrifice though the dilemma could be resolved by throwing the
drowning man a rope or spar. This was a much less personal intervention
than actually landing a hand or diving in to help and therefore less risky.
Various shipboard ceremonies were observed and maintained religiously:
at Christmas a tree would be lashed to the top of the mast (the custom is
still followed, and on ships lacking a mast the tree is tied to the
railings on the highest deck). At midnight as New Year’s Eve becomes New
Year’s Day the ship’s bell is rung eight times for the old year and eight
times for the new – midnight on a ship is normally eight bells – the oldest
member of the crew giving the first eight rings, the youngest the second.
“Burying the Dead Horse” was a ceremony which was continued in
merchant ships until late in the nineteenth century, and kept up most
recently in vessels on the Australian run. The horse was a symbol for the
month’s pay advanced on shore (and usually spent before sailing); after
twenty-eight days at sea the advance was worked out. The horse’s body was
made from a barrel, its legs from hay, straw or shavings covered with
canvas, and the main and tail of hemp. The animal was hoisted to the main
yardarm and set on fire. It was allowed to blase for a short time and was
then cut loose and dropped into the sea. Musical accompaniment was provided
by the shanty “Poor Old Horse”:
Now he is dead and will die no more,
And we say so, for we know so.
It makes his ribs feel very sore,
Oh, poor old man.
He is gone and will go no more,
And we say so, for we know so.
So goodbye, old horse,
We say goodbye.
On sailing ships collective work at the capstan, windlass, pumps and
halliards was often accompanied by particular songs known as shanties.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries big, full-rigged
vessels were bringing cargoes of nitrate, guano and saltpetre to Britain to
South America ports. When a ship was loaded and ready to sail round Cape
Horn and home, the carpenter would make a large wooden cross to which red
and white lights were fixed in the shape of the constellation known as the
Southern Cross. As this was hoisted to the head of the mainmast, the crew
would sing the shanty “Hurrah, my boys, we’re homeward bound”, and then the
crew of every ship in harbour took turns to cheer the departing vessel.
Seafarers crossing the equator for the first time – and sometimes the
tropics of the polar circles – are often put through a sort of baptism or
initiation ceremony. The earliest recorded reference to such a ritual dates
back to 1529 on a French ship, but by the end of the following century
English vessels were involved in the same custom, which continues to this
day in both Royal Navy and merchant service.
One of the crew appears as Neptune, complete with crown, trident and
luxuriant beard; others represent Queen Amphitrite, a barber, a surgeon and
various nymphs and bears. Neptune holds court by the side of a large canvas
bath full of sea - water, and any on board who have not previously crossed
“the Line” are ceremonially shaved with huge wooden razors, then thoroughly
ducked. Finally, the victim is given a certificate which protects him from
the same ordeal on ane future occasion. Even passengers are put through a
modified form of the proceedings, though women are given a still softer
version of the treatment.
When a naval captain leaves his ship he can expect a ritual farewell.
Even Prince Charles was unable to escape when in 1976 he relinquished
command of the minesweeper, HMS “Bronington”; he was seized by white –
coated doctors (his officers), placed in a wheelchair and “invalided out”
to the cheers of his crew members who held up a banner inscribed: “Command
has aged me”.
Other marines departed in a less jovial manner. When a man died at sea
his body would be sewn into canvas, weighted, and committed to the deep.
The sailmaker was responsible for making the shroud, and would always put
the last stitch through the corpse’s nose, ensuring that there was no sign
of life and that the body remained attached to the weighted canvas. This
practise was followed at least until the 1960s, the sailmaker receiving a
bottle of rum for his work. Nowadays the bodies are seldom buried at sea
but are refrigerated and brought back to land. However, those consigning a
body in this way still receive the traditional bottle of rum for their
trouble.
CHAPTER 3
We have had a look at some samples of well and carefully preserved
British folklore that tells about the British “waterworld”. But a question
of our time no less important is whether the people with such an affection
for their land try to preserve it from the harm that may cause our age of
highly developed machines, ships, tunkers, etc.
Britain’s marine, coastal and inland waters are generally clean: some
95% of rivers, streams and canals are of good or fair quality, a much
higher figure than in most other European countries. However their
cleanliness cannot be taken for granted, and so continuing steps are being
taken to deal with remaining threats. Discharges to water from the most
potentially harmful processes are progressively becoming subject to
authorisation under IPC.
Government regulations for a new system of classifying water in
England and Wales came into force in May 1994. This system will provide the
basis for setting statutory water quality objectives (SWQO), initially on a
trial basis in a small number of catchment areas where their effectiveness
can be assessed. The objectives, which will be phased in gradually, will
specify for each individual stretch of water the standards that should be
reached and the target date for achieving them. The system of SWQOs will
provide the framework to set discharge consents. Once objectives are set,
the enterprises will be under a duty to ensure that they are met.
There have been important developments in controlling the sea disposal
of wastes in recent years. The incineration of wastes at sea was halted in
1990 and the dumping of industrial waste ended in 1992. In February 1994
the Government announced British acceptance of an internationally agreed
ban on the dumping of low- and intermediate – level wastes was already
banned. Britain had not in fact dumped any radioactive waste at sea for
some years preveously. Britain is committed to phasing out the dumping of
sewage sludge at sea by the end of 1998. Thereafter only dredged material
from ports, harbours and the like will routinely be approved for sea
disposal.
Proposals for decommissioning Britain’s 200 offshore installations are
decided on a case – by – case basis, looking for the best practicable
environmental option and observing very rigorous international agreements
and guidelines.
Farm Waste
Although not a major source of water pollution incidents, farms can
represent a problem. Many pollution incidents result from silage effluent
or slurry leaking and entering watercourses; undiluted farm slurry can be
up to 100 times, more polluting than raw domestic sewage. Regulations set
minimum construction standards for new or substantially altered farm waste
handling facilities. Farmers are required to improve existing installations
where there is a significant risk of pollution. The Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food publishes a “Code of Good Agricultural
Practice for the Protection of Water”. This gives farmers guidance on,
among other things, the planning and management of the disposal of their
farm wastes. The Ministry also has L2 million research and development
programme to examine problems of farm waste and to minimise pollution.
Britain is a signatory to the 1992 North East Atlantic Convention,
which tackles pollution from land – based sources, offshore installations
and dumping. It also provides for monitoring and assessment of the quality
of water in the convention’s area. In order to minimise the environmental
effects of offshore oil and gas operations, special conditions designed to
protect the environment -–set in consultation with environmental interests
– are included in licences for oil and gas exploration.
Pollution from ships is controlled under international agreements,
which cover matters such as oil discharges and disposal of garbage. British
laws implementing such agreements are binding not only on all ships in
British waters, but also on British ships all over the world. The Marine
Pollution Control Unit (MPCU), part of the Coastguard Agency, is
responsible for dealing with spillage of oil or other substances from ships
in sea.
So great care is being taken to manage to preserve all that precious
that Britain has. Keeping the waters in a good conditions would help to
keep the traditions connected with it as well, and to pass them on to other
generations.
