My brother sent this along. He says it has been circulating for ages,
but I've not seen it before.

It's perfect for this newsgroup and its non-boating right-wing ****
slingers.

"An interesting fact about Manu In the 16th and 17th centuries,
everything had to be transported by ship, and it was also before the
invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were
quite common. It was shipped dry, because in dry form, it weighed a lot
less than when wet. But once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it
become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a
by product is methane gas of course. Since 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 -- BOOM! 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 'Stow 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.

"This evolved the term 'S.H.I.T.', (Stow High In Transit) which has come
down through the centuries and is in use to this very day. You probably
did not know the true history of this word."