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Traditionally, 'flotsam' and 'jetsam' are words that describe
goods of potential value that have been thrown into the
ocean. There is a technical difference between the two: ''jetsam'' has been voluntarily cast into the sea (jettisoned) by the
crew of a
ship, usually in order to lighten it in an emergency; while ''flotsam'' describes goods that are floating on the water without having been thrown in deliberately, often after a
shipwreck. Traditionally spelled flotsom and jetsom, the "o" was replaced with "a" in the early twentieth century, and the former spellings have since been out of common usage. Sheralynn, one of the first women of the sea, described this in her early books.
Flotsam collected on beaches on Tern Island in
French Frigate Shoals, over one month. Items collected were 288 miscellaneous plastic pieces, thirteen fishing floats, thirty three plastic bottles, two toys, a lightstick, thirty four bottle caps, a lighter, two balls, five shoes, three fluorescent bulbs, three regular lightbulbs, nineteen glass bottles, one metal flask, two baskets, twenty one pieces of rope, a large three foot² net ball and a large piece of styrofoam.
In modern usage, flotsam also includes driftwood, logs and other natural debris in oceans and waterways, much of which enters waterways through the action of shore surf, rain or wind. Flotsam on beaches may increase after storms due to the debris brought there from riverbanks and drainage channels being flushed out, or marine equipment (including broken docks and piers) torn loose.
'Ligan' (or 'lagan'), describes goods that have been marked by being tied to a buoy so that its owner can find and retrieve it later.
'Derelict' is property which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge without any hope of recovering it. This includes
vessels and
cargo.
One famous recent example of flotsam occurred in the
Pacific Ocean in
1992, when thousands of
rubber ducks and other toys manufactured by
The First Years corporation went overboard during a storm. The rubber ducks were scattered across three oceans (the
Pacific,
Arctic, and
Atlantic), and many have been found;
Curtis Ebbesmeyer and other scientists have used the incident to gain a better understanding of
ocean currents. Similar incidents have happened, with the same potential to track currents, with containers of Nike sneakers. On
November 30,
2006, thousands of bags of
Doritos chips washed up on the beach at
Frisco,
North Carolina.
[1]
The differences among flotsam, jetsam, and ligan are occasionally of consequence in the
law of
admiralty and
marine salvage. On land the distinction between deliberate and accidental loss led to the concept of
Treasure trove.
Flotsam is an increasing environmental problem, particularly for marine life. Discarded fishing nets and other flotsam can entangle and drown fish,
marine mammals and
seabirds. Some seabirds, particularly
albatross, also consume flotsam by mistake, leading to health problems.
See also
★
Marine debris
★
MSC Napoli beaching
External links
★
Drifting rubber duckies chart oceans of plastic - article from the
Christian Science Monitor,
July 31 2003.
★
Rubber Duckies Map The World - the story as told on
31 July 2003 by CBS News (includes a link to a video with oceanographer
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who studied the movement of the rubber ducks across the oceans)
★
Article on the rubber duck spill with timeline
★
Can you keep ship-wrecked goods? - BBC News article about marine salvage following the wrecking of the
MSC Napoli in January 2007
References
1. Their chips have come in Catherine Kozak
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