HOWdie wrote:
Black pepper has been added and used along the North Carolina coast as
an additive for years from my experience


Where? I grew up in New Bern and have been every place in coastal NC.
I've heard a lot about adding black pepper, red pepper, Texas Pete,
juice from distilled datil peppers, etc etc, to paint for anti-fouling,
but nobody has ever shown that it does anything at all except make the
paint flake off.

AFAIK it's an old wives tale.

DSK