OH SHIT.....

OH SHIT...

You learn something everyday!

Manure�: �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. As the 

stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can�imagine what could (and did)

 happen.��Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone 

came below at night with a lantern...... BOOOOM!

��
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 the�instruction�' 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.

Thus 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.��Neither did I.

I had always thought it was�essentially�something to do with POLITICIANS...

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-s-word.htm

sorry it is not true....an urban legend! check the link above.