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Using the head in the forties


Alpo

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Back in the bad old days, when we knew the ocean was always be pure and gorgeous and unpolluted, people out sailing around would dump their garbage, and their toilets, straight into the ocean. Right?

 

Or did they have black water holding tanks?

 

I was just thinking of people that live on their boats. You can take your garbage, step up onto the dock, and go down to the gate and put it in the trash can. But flushing the head?

 

If there is, say, 50 boats (more or less) permanently docked at the Santa Barbara yacht club, did they all just flush their pee and poop into the harbor?

 

Crabbing oughta be good, but I'd hate to go swimming. :o:wacko:

 

Or would they, maybe,have a sewage line going to some type of tank under the dock?

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Alpo,

    Great question.

     Found this site to be helpful.

 

      http://www.withoutahitch.com.au/marine/boat-toilets/

 

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Most house boat marinas have sewer lines since the late 60's early 70"s.  Bigger boats with fixed heads have been required to have holding tanks since the 90's in the US.  Other places not so much.     

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Maybe y'all missed that word in the title.

 

Forties.

 

75 years ago.

 

Ken and Ernie are living on a yacht, at the Yacht Club. The book mentions there is an electric line and a telephone line run on board. And at the grocery store Ernie picks up toilet paper.

 

BOOM!!!

 

The wonder hits me. What happens when they flush?

 

Or for that matter, gray water. Ken comes home from work, takes a shower. After supper Ernie does the dishes. Did it all just get pumped over the side?

 

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So many sea-side cities just using the ocean as a sewage disposal, here in Canada and elsewhere.

I found it almost poetic, when back in the 70's on a visit to the famous beach, Ipanea, the wind shifted and brought everything back to the shore.

Missed ogling the girls, but.............

Taxi driver told us if we got out and walked on the beach, we were not getting back into his cab.

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My  approximately 1970-built Cal 2/24 had an outpumping head... to my knowledge, only used by the ladies and only for "non-solids."   

 

I eventually removed it, sealed the through-hull fittings, and planned on just installing a self-contained portable toilet.  Never got that far; "change in family circumstances" dictated passing the boat on to a friend.   It's now spent the last ten years or so parked behind the local Sea Scout skipper's shop; the Kid's thinkin' about trying to adopt her...  :rolleyes:

 

But back to the original subject:  I've known "live-aboard" folk, and some of their practices, while practical, were pretty unpleasant.  Even into the early 70's some marina dwellers I knew were still out-pumping ~ "The tide and currents will take care of it!"   :mellow:

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2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

If it’s a sailing ship, pee off the bow, if is a motorboat pee off the stern.

 

That only works for old square rigged ships. They never sailed faster than the wind was blowing. That is why the Toilet was at the bow (head) and the Captain's quarters were at the stern.

 

Modern Sail boats can easily outpace the wind. Stand at the bow and you could find yourself peeing into the (relative) wind.

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Installed one in a boat years ago & I called it a Vega-matic.Get the Idea ,.

                                                                                                                                       Largo

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1 hour ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

That only works for old square rigged ships. They never sailed faster than the wind was blowing. That is why the Toilet was at the bow (head) and the Captain's quarters were at the stern.

 

Modern Sail boats can easily outpace the wind. Stand at the bow and you could find yourself peeing into the (relative) wind.

 

Wrap an arm 'round the shrouds on the leeward side and let fly 'midships.  ;)

 

AND for the last 30+ years there've been devices that allow the gals to do the same... standing up!  (Google it)  :rolleyes:

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5 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

That only works for old square rigged ships. They never sailed faster than the wind was blowing. That is why the Toilet was at the bow (head) and the Captain's quarters were at the stern.

 

Modern Sail boats can easily outpace the wind. Stand at the bow and you could find yourself peeing into the (relative) wind.

But it’s about the 40s

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15 hours ago, Alpo said:

Forties.

 

75 years ago.

 

Ken and Ernie are living on a yacht, at the Yacht Club. The book mentions there is an electric line and a telephone line run on board. And at the grocery store Ernie picks up toilet paper.

 

Killer McCoy & Miss Sage (the camp follower) probably polluted the water in the harbor a bit while using Pickering’s yacht.

 

The forties was a different time in the US of A. Plenty of folks using outhouses here in the States then too, problematic if it’s near your well with a high water table.  

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1 hour ago, Ethan Cord said:

Pickering’s yacht

Actually the yacht belonged to a friend of one of Pickering's lawyers. He was happy to have them living there, as his three-man crew, "in a burst of patriotism" had joined the Coast Guard, leaving the boat unattended.

 

But that brings up an interesting wonder.

 

Would a Master Mariner, with a "any tonnage, any ocean" ticket, who owned a shipping company with both freight and passenger ships --- would he buy a yacht?

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Everything went into the ocean back then. Everything.

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You don't need to go so far back as the 40's.  In the mid 70's we still discharged directly overboard from submarines, in port.  Every mid watch (0000-0400) the biggest duty of the Below Decks watch was to blow the sanitary tank overboard.  If the tide was right, there would still be a collection of "wrinkle neck brown trout" around the ship 'til morning.  If he vented the tank improperly, the whole boat smelled like a sewer.  There were a species of little sardine like fish that made shining clouds under the ship while feasting on the effluent.

Newly qualified submariners had their dolphins pinned on at morning quarters.  Then their shipmates threw them in that same harbor to celebrate.

 

A yacht in the 40's?  You can bet it all went overboard, in port, at sea, wherever.

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