I can’t say that I have wondered before, but thinking how to start this post I thought I’d dig into where the term flotsam and jetsam came from. A term so often used to described the odds and sods that we find lying along the coast, and considered to generally refer to rubbish. There is however more to the term, which originated in the seventeenth century. Each has a specific definition under maritime law. Flotsam is matter that has been unintentionally lost at sea, whereas jetsam is matter that has been intentionally thrown overboard:
Jetsam does not refer to waste thrown overboard but when they had to lighten the load due to the vessel being in distress. The two phrases come from Anglo-French words of floteson and jettison. Digging deeper, there is a third maritime term being lagan. From another old French word of lagand, which means lying. Lagan are goods cast from a vessel in peril, which want to be retrieved later. A buoy or float is attached to them so when they are finally found ownership can be proven. For beachcombers this meant that finders did not mean keepers:
Finders keepers being an even older term traced back to the Romans. I will however refrain from talking about that this time, as I seem to be drifting off topic. My reason for starting in this direction was that I felt a nautical theme was appropriate. Josh was keen to head to Moses Rocks, and walking in we found bits of flotsam and likely lagan. The rope above no doubt accidentally lost but the buoy had a probe attached, suggesting it may have been some type of monitoring station. There were also lots of Goose Barnacle (Lepas anserifera) on it:
The origin of the name of these barnacles is quite interesting, a topic for another time I feel. I will however explain that barnacles have several earlier free-swimming life stages, which results in them being able to find a home on just about anything floating in the ocean, such as floatsam, jetsam, lagan, ocean going vessels, and even sea creatures, as well as static features. Once attached a long rubbery stalk keeps a tight hold. Despite choosing Moses Rocks, Josh was probably wishing he had the barnacles ability to cling onto smooth surfaces:
But before we get to the climbing, there is one more watery spectacle that we cannot go past. Four climbs in, Josh tells me to look out to sea and all I saw was a splash. Then for a solid ten minutes or more we both stared into the watery abyss intently. A mother and calf Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) provided us with a wonderful show. Breaching countless times as they slowly moved south. This is the best known species for breaching, but not the only one. There are many reasons for breaching, one to remove barnacles from their skin:
Other reasons include removing parasites, which I say as Goose Barnacles are not parasites but other barnacles can be. They can also undertake this huge energy consuming activity for communication, showing prowess, and attracting a mate. This display was however likely the mother pushing her calf into the acrobatics to build muscle strength and skin health. The action also increases myoglobin levels in their muscles, which provides it with stamina. Again something Josh, as the morning wore on, may have wished he could have had more of:
That is not to say he did not show barnacle like tendencies, as he held onto the often slopey granitic gneiss. With its smooth yet grippy texture and wonderful banded appearance. Created by quartz having formed layers when it recrystallized from the mix of minerals in the original granite, as the rock was transformed into a gneiss under intense heat and pressure. Today there was no pressure, we were picking fun lines. Mostly on the shorter side, and quite a few that may never have been climbed. I did however encourage Josh to lead some:
Craig will need to dig into his memory, as the last three images are of routes he and I did a long time ago. Back then we felt some were worthy of being recorded, others we didn’t. Not to say they weren’t fun, just a little short or obscure. Today they were a lot of fun, and Josh and I racked up ten lines. More impressively considering his relative absence from rock he led four routes. And since seeing the mother and calf breaching, we kept a keen eye on the water when we could. Rewarded by occasionally seeing breaching action by other whales:
Sandbagged 