Flotsam and Jetsam came into view in 1986 with their Metal Blade album, "Doomsday for the Deceiver," and have been up and down in the music business ever since. Soon after the release of "Deceiver" bassist and lyricist Jason Newsted got the Metallica bass gig, which, is ironically, how a whole lot of people first came to know about Flotsam. This led to a deal with Elektra, the release of "No Place for Disgrace" and, shortly thereafter, their departure from Elektra. Their next home was MCA, who put out "When the Storm Comes Down" (which hit the billboard charts) and now, "Cuatro,".

Flotsam and Jetsam Personnell Past and Present

Edward Carlson - Guitar (1983-Present) 
Michael Gilbert - Guitar (1985-1997) 
Troy Gregory - Bass Guitar (1987-1991) 
Erik Knutson - Lead Vocals (1983-Present) 
Craig Neilsen - Drums (1997-Present) 
Jason Newsted - Bass Guitar (1983-1986) 
Phil Rind - Bass Guitar (1986 Briefly) 
Mark T. Simpson - Guitar (1997-1999) 
Kelly David Smith - Drums (1983-1997) 
Mike Spencer - Bass Guitar (1987 Briefly) 
Jason Ward - Bass Guitar (1991-Present) 

A Mariners term for, you know, the stuff that floats in the water (in this case, the oceans of the world). Flotsam is the name for natual stuff like kelp, dead fish, etc. Jetsam is reserved for man-made stuff; stuff that has been jettisoned, hence the name. Stuff like crates, bottles, corpses and anything else that would be lost overboard.

Our good friend Webster has a few writeups that also state that both are a name for stuff tossed overboard -- 'Flotsam' is for the stuff that floats on the surface, and 'Jetsam' is for the stuff that doesn't. Now, I'm not saying he's a liar, but I got my definition directly from the horses mouth; from my aunt who was a lighthouse keeper in Nova Scotia for 35 years. Either one could be right, I suppose.

xunker has already given two candidates for the distinction between flotsam and jetsam. I propose a third. According to The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, flotsam is parts of a wrecked ship or her cargo, or goods accidentally lost overboard, while "jetsam" is restricted to mean goods deliberately thrown overboard to lighten the load. The Companion also notes that in the original legal sense, jetsam is actually the place where the goods are thrown overboard, not the goods themselves. Both flotsam and jetsam must be floating on the surface, as opposed to lagan which must lie on the bottom. "Waveson", if you ever encounter that word, means the same as "jetsam" and is related to "waive", not "wave". Flotsam is also the word for "newly ejected oyster-spawn". Yummy.

Connections between modern language and the sea are strong, and the origins of many terms and phrases are often clear. For instance, the implication of sayings like, Don't give up the ship, Like a fish out of water, and Take the wind out of his sails seem pretty obvious. In the case of flotsam and jetsam as a phrase which linguistics call a Siamese twin meaning pairs of words which are traditionally linked by and or or that commonly have comparable meanings because each unit in the pair are related in other formulaic ways. In this case, however, it’s not of synonyms but of associated ideas.

Today when these words are used together as flotsam and jetsam or sometimes as mentioned in the previous write ups flotsam jetsam and ligan. The phase by today's vernacular simply means "discarded items." Things that are, by and large, of no value that may be found on the ground, or on the shore.

Historically though it was only the shore, or in the sea itself. Nevertheless, if truth be told they don't mean the same thing at all and while they are connected ideas they aren’t exchangeable -- except when used together what they both mean is indeed similar. They are in fact "discarded items,” but more specifically items from a ship.

In English law, flotsam, jetsam and ligan are defined as:

    “Goods lost at sea, as distinguished from goods which come to land, which are technically designated wreck. Jetsam (a contraction of jettison, from Lat. jactare, to throw) is when goods are cast into the sea, and there sink and remain under water; flotsam (float son, from float, Lat. flottare) is where they continue floating on the surface of the waves; ligan (or lagan, from lay or lie) is where they are sunk in the sea, but tied to a cork or buoy ‘in order to be found again. (Originally) ‘flotsam, jetsam and ligan belong(ed)’ to the sovereign in the absence only of the true owner. Wreck, on the other hand (i.e. goods cast on shore), was by the common law adjudged to the sovereign in any case, because it was said by the loss of the ship all property was gone out of the original owner.
Flotsam was anything that ended up in the sea from a ship, no matter the manner in which it got there, and belonged to the original owner so long as it remained floating in the sea. Even though jetsam means goods thrown overboard from a ship in danger of sinking in order to give the ship more buoyancy, as soon as what is being jettisoned hits the shore, any of that 'wreck' becomes jetsam –and at one time in British history all jestam in this sense was owned by the king. Ligan was, and still is defined as goods cast overboard with a rope attached so that they may be retrieved. Sometimes ligan can also refer to goods remaining inside a sunken ship or lying on the bottom of the sea. Because ligan has a buoy or floating object attached to them so that they can be found again it designates them as having ownership. This form of wreckage or cargo found by other persons must be returned to the owner, while flotsam and jetsam must be returned only if the owner makes a proper claim. The rules of salvage apply to all three terms in maritime law defined as:” Compensation that the owner must pay for having his vessel or cargo saved from peril, such as shipwreck, fire, or capture by an enemy.” Salvage is granted only when the party making the rescue is under no legal obligation to do so.

Jetsam was used beginning in 1575 and the use of the word flotsam can be found recorded as early as the 17th century. These curious distinctions between supplies, cargo and freight washed ashore as lost, and commodities on and in the sea as not lost, no doubt led to the primitive practice of plundering wrecked ships.

These legal terms in maritime law may have their origins in five original towns that formed the Cinque Ports located along the southern coast of England. Cinque means five in French and their history dates as far back as to the time of Alfred the Great. At some point during the 12th century Henry VII created this federation of townships that included Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney and Hastings. As time went by, the number of cinque ports expanded to over thirty which would have included just about every south eastern coastal ship building village. The purpose of the alliance was to provide ships and protection of the coastline for the King before the creation of the Royal Navy in 1496. Because of this they were allowed a free hand to rule their own areas. The Cinque Ports were first cited in a Royal Charter of 1155 and in exchange for certain rights, these places maintained ships that would be made available to the Crown in times of conflict. The original charter gave the members the right to :

    "Exemption from tax and tallage, Right of soc and sac,
    tol and team, blodwit and fledwit, pillory and tumbril,
    infrangentheof and outfrangentheof, mundbryce,
    waives and strays, flotsam and jetsam and ligan"
Here is a brief interpretation of the language. Tax and tallage means tax and tolls so in they didn’t have to pay taxes or tolls. The phrase “soc and sac” gave them the right to self-government and “tol and team” bestowed permission to levy tolls. “Blodwit and fledwit” indicated that the alliance of seaports could punish people who shed blood or fled from justice and they could punish for minor offences through “pillory and tumbril.” “Infrangentheof and outfrangentheof” stands for the power to detain and execute felons both inside and outside the jurisdiction of the port. “mundbryce’ was punishments for breaches of the peace while “waives and strays” allowed them to take ownership of lost and unclaimed goods after a year. Finally, flotsam and jetsam and ligan gave them the right to take ownership of goods thrown overboard or floating wreckage.

The first sawmills for sawing and working up the flotsam and jetsam of the shipwrecks sprang up and many homes sporting beams of wood from wreckage and rubble were constructed. Even whales that washed up on shore were considered flotsam and hence belonged to the king. Many craftsmen would steal the ivory teeth and create ornate carvings. Frequently the ships and men from these towns would prolong the fighting long after peace had been reached leading to open piracy around the Kent and Sussex coast. These swashbuckling privateers on behalf of the Crown, led the way to rampant piracy and smuggling in the area calling for the creation of maritime laws.

Over the course of the era wrecking history developed an exceptionally dark side with many prayers said and dead men tales told. Some relate how men waved lanterns from cliff tops to lure passing ships on to rocks. A man bursting into a church and shouting, "Wreck! Wreck!" and the clergyman is said to have barred the door to stop his flock from rushing for the shore - while he removed his robes "so we can all start fair". Many people were convinced that the bounty of wrecks was theirs by right, and some were ruthless in claiming it. There are records of half-drowned mariners having clothes ripped from their backs. Sailors were said to recite a nervous prayer:

    God keep us from rocks and shelving sands
    And save us from Breage and Germoe men's hands
The wreckers reputedly had their own prayer:
    "Oh please Lord, let us pray for all on the sea
    But if there's got to be wrecks, please send them to we."
    (Richard Larn, Charleston Shipwreck Museum)
Breage and Germoe are parishes located on the coast of Mount’s Bay on the southernmost tip of Great Britain. Tin miners on The Lizard in West Cornwall, allegedly became "mad people, without the fear of God" when a ship came to grief, while Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovel endured the wrecking of his entire fleet on the Isles of Scilly in 1707, it wasn’t for long. "Legend has it he was found on the beach, and somebody killed him for his gold rings," recounts Captain George Hogg of the National Maritime Museum, in Falmouth. Coins from an unknown wreck still turn up on Praa Sands, near Penzance. "There's also a cove on Scilly known as Beady Bay, after a ship went down carrying trading gifts," Captain Hogg remembers. "You could go to Beady Bay and find these little glass beads for hundreds of years - and probably still can."

The Cinque Ports authority weakened over the centuries. In 1348 the Black Death swept through Europe and Great Britain drastically reducing the population and French raids on the ports during the 13th and 14th centuries caused more bloodshed. The silting up of the harbors reduced the size of ships able to enter the area, and finally the creation of the Royal Navy during Henry VII reign from1485 to 1509 put an end to the federation. It wasn’t until the middle of the 1800’s that the phrase lost the distinction between the two words and was being used figuratively as a fixed phrase meaning worthless odds and ends. By the second half of the 1900’s the term began to refer to the rejects of society like vagrants and the destitute or homeless individuals.

NotFabio says Scupper is another term typically used in admiralty to denote when something become salvagable. Typically speaking something scuppered is still property of the owner provided they can account for it: i.e. in offshore racing, sails washed overboard remain part of the boat until they are no long visible.

Sources:

Are you now, or have you ever been, a logorrhetic?:
www.duke.edu/~bd7/words.html

Cinque Ports 1155 to 1500 - VillageNet History:
www.villagenet.co.uk/history/1155-cinqueports.html

The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia:
51.1911encyclopedia.org/F/FL/ FLOTSAM_JETSAM_and_LIGAN.htm

Everyday Phrases and their Nautical Origins - Suite101.com:
www.suite101.com/article.cfm/538/84272

flotsam, jetsam, and ligan:
www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0818980.html

The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, © Oxford University Press 1968

Timber galore for Cornish wreckers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/england/1801109.stm

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