SALT-WATER POEMS ...Historical Development In the 1950s Reid conceived and with his colleagues demonstrated reverse osmosis desalination using cellulose acetate films (sheet s), but he received a very low permeate flux. In 1959–1960 Loeb and Sourirajan (L–S) found that anisotropic cellulose acetate membranes, those possessing a skin surmounti ng a porous substructure, could have both good desalination and an adequate permeat e flux. The L–S membranes obtained the anisotropic character by dividing the nas cent membrane into a skin and a porous substructure, a process historically labeling the membranes as "asymmetric". Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, Francis and Cadotte, and se parately Riley fabricated anisotropic membranes by adding the skin to the porous substructure, initially physically and later by interfacial polymerization at the uppe r surface of the porous substructure. Membranes thus fabricated are called composite. For application both of these sheet- type membranes are interlaced with flow spacer s, rolled into a tight spiral, and inserted into a pressure cylinder. The housing assemb ly, invented by Westmoreland and Bray in the 1960s is called a spiral module. Hollow fiber membranes were first fabricated by Mahon in the early 1960s but his permeate flux was very low, probably because the fiber was isotropic. Starting in 1965, DuPont developed very successful asymmetric polyamide hollow fibers and appropriate modules for both brackish and seawater desalination. In the latter 1970s, the Toyobo Company began marketing asymmetric cellulose triacetate hollow fibers and modules. Principle of Reverse Osmosis A solution is separated from its solvent by a semipermeable membrane, one permeable to the solvent but not the solute. The natu ral permeation from solvent to solution is called osmosis. If hydrostatic pressure is applied increasingly on the solution side the permeation rate will decrease accordingly, stop at a hydrostatic pressure called the osmotic pressure, and reverse direction at a greater hydrostatic pressure. This is reverse osmosis (RO). Technical and Economical Relevance of Reverse Osmosis Reverse osmosis has a number of innate adva ntages. Because it is all-liquid and uses hydrostatic pressure as an energy source, RO modules and plants can be very compact, operation is relatively simple, and modules are readily replaced. Furthermore, the energy input can be quite low because it can approach the free energy of separation. These advantages have been realized by the necessary development of membranes having an adequately high value of the water permeation constant, A , m 3 m –2 d –1 bar, thus combining relatively low hydrostatic pressures with minimization of required membrane area to obtain the lowest fresh wate r cost. An important and necessary factor in RO's success has been the development of customized pretreatment, suiting feed brines to membranes to increase membrane life. Starting from zero in 1968 reverse osmosi s now occupies a dominant position in desalination. 1. Introduction Reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination wa s conceived and laboratory-demonstrated in the late 1950s. A quantum jump to practicality was made in 1960 with the discovery of the anisotropic RO membrane which combined good desalination with adequate permeate flux at a reasonable hydrostatic pressure. Since then there has been progressive improvement in these membrane s and development of ingenious means for packaging them. As a result, present day RO plants are compact and simple to operate, and can take advantage of the fact that in RO there is no phase change required. Therefore, the required energy input can approach fairly closely to the thermodynamic minimum free energy of separation, an adva ntage no other desalination process can surpass, and usually cannot approach. An important factor in the commercial succe ss of reverse osmosis desalination has been the development of pretreatment methods appr opriate for the particular feed brine being used. For all of these reasons reverse osmosi s enjoys a leading position today in the installation of commercial water desalination capacity and plants

HELL'S PAVEMENT 
*When Fm discharged in Liverpool *n* draws my bit o* 

pay, 

I won't come to sea no more. 
I'll court a pretty little lass 'n' have a weddin' day, 

'N' settle somewhere down ashore. 
FU never fare to sea again a-temptin' Davy Jones, 
A-hearkening to the cruel sharks a-hungerin' for my 

bones ; 
I'll run a blushin' dairy-farm or go a-crackin' stones, 
Or buy 'n' keep a little liquor-store,' — 

So he said. 

They towed her in to Liverpool, we made the hooker 
fast. 
And the copper-bound officials paid the crew. 
And Billy drew his money, but the money didn't last, 

For he painted the alongshore blue, — 
It was rum for Poll, and rum for Nan, and gin for Jolly 

Jack. 
He shipped a week later in the clothes upon his back, 
He had to pinch a little straw, he had to beg a sack 
To sleep on, when his watch was through, — 

So he did. 

as 



SEA--CHANGE 

*GoNEYS an* gullies an* all o' the birds o* the sea, 
They ain't no birds, not really,* said Billy the Dane. 

*Not mollies, nor gullies, nor goneys at all,* said he, 
* But simply the sperrits of mariners livin* again. 

*Them birds goin* fishin* is nothin* but souls o* the 
drowned, 
Souls o* the drowned an* the kicked as are never no 
more; 
An' that there haughty old albatross cruisin' around, 
Belike he's Admiral Nelson or Admiral Noah. 

*An* merry's the life they are living. They settle and 
dip. 
They fishes, they never stands watches, they waggle 
their wings ; 
When a ship comes by, they fly to look at the ship 
To see how the nowaday mariners manages things. 

* When freezing aloft in a snorter, I tell you I wish — 
(Though maybe it ain*t like a Christian) — I wish I 
could be 

A haughty old copper-bound albatross dipping for fish 
And coming the proud over all o* the birds o' the sea.* 



*'N* "mother," the looney cackles, "come *n* put Willy 

to bed!" 
So I says "Dry up, or I'll fetch you a crack o* the head" ; 
"The kettle's a-bilin'," he answers, "V FU go butter 

the bread." 

^'N' he falls to singin' some slush about clinkin' a can, 

'N' at last he dies, so he does, 'n' I tells you, Jan, 

I was glad when he did, for he weren't no fun for a man. 

*So he falls forrard, he does, 'n' he closes his eye, 
'N' quiet he lays 'n* quiet I leaves him lie, 
'N' I was alone with his corp, 'n' the cold green sea and 
the sky. 

*'N' then I dithers, I giiess, for the next as I knew 
Was the voice of a mate as was sayin' to one of the crew, 
"Easy, my son, wi' the brandy, be shot if he ain't 
comin'-toi"* 




ETHICAL PARTY 

*He's deader *n nails/ the fo'c's'le said, *'n' gone to his 

long sleep' ; 
*'N' about his corp,' said Tom to Dan, *d'ye think his 

corp'll keep 
Till the day's done, 'n' the work's through, 'n' the ebb's 

upon the neap?' 

^He's deader 'n nails,' said Dan to Tom, ^'n' I wish his^ 

sperrit j'y ; 
He spat straight 'n' he steered true, but listen to me, 

say I, 
Take 'n' cover 'n' bury him now, 'n' I'll take 'n' tell 

you why. 

*It's a rummy rig of a guflFy's yarn, 'n' the juice of a 

rummy note, 
But if you buries a corp at night, it takes 'n' keeps afloat. 
For Its bloody soul's afraid o' the dark 'n' sticks within 

the throat. 

*'N' all the night till the grey o' the dawn the dead 'un has 

to swim 
With a blue 'n' beastly Will o' the Wisp a-burnin' over 

him, 

13 



14 SALT-WATER BALLADS 

With a herring, maybe, a-scoffin' a toe or a shark a-chew- 
in' a limb. 

*'N* all the night the shiverin' corp it has to swim the 

sea, 
With its shudderin' soul inside the throat (where a soul's 

no right to be), 
Till the sky's grey 'n' the dawn's clear, 'n' then the sperrit's 

free. 

^Now Joe was a man was right as rain. I'm sort of sore 

for Joe, 
'N' if we bury him durin' the day, his soul can take 'n' 

go; 

So we'll dump his corp when the bell strikes 'n' we can 
get below. 

*I'd fairly hate for him to swim in a blue 'n' beastly 

light, 
With his shudderin' soul inside of him a-feelin' the fishes 

bite. 
So over he goes at noon, say I, 'n' he shall sleep to-night.' 



BILL 

He lay dead on the cluttered deck and stared at the cold 

skies, 
With never a friend to mourn for him nor a hand to close 

his eyes : 
*Bill, he's dead,* was all they said; *he*8 dead, *n* there 

he lies.' 

The mate came forrard at seven bells and spat across the 

rail: 
'Just lash him up wi' some holystone in a clout o' rotten 

sail, 
'N', rot ye, get a gait on ye, ye*re slower'n a bloody snail !* 

When the rising moon was a copper disc and the sea was 

a strip of steel. 
We dumped him down to the swaying weeds ten fathom 

beneath the keel. 
'It's rough about Bill,* the fo'c's'le said, 'we'll have to 

stand his wheel.' 



tS 



FEVER SHIP 

There'll be no weepin' gells ashore when our ship sails. 
Nor no crews cheerin' us, standin' at the rails, 
'N' no Blue Peter a-foul the royal stay. 
For weVe the Yellow Fever — Harry died to-day. — 
It's cruel when a fo'c's'le gets the fever! 

'N' Dick has got the fever-shakes, 'n' look what I was told 
(I went to get a sack for him to keep him from the cold) : 
*Sir, can I have a sack?' I says, *for Dick 'e's fit to die.' 
^Oh, sack be shot!' the skipper says, ^jest let the rotter 
lie!' — 

It's cruel when a fo'c's'le gets the fever ! 

It's a cruel port is Santos, and a hungry land. 
With rows o' graves already dug in yonder strip of sand, 
'N' Dick is hoUerin' up the hatch, 'e says 'e's goin' blue. 
His pore teeth are chattering, 'n' what's a man to do ? — 
It's cruel when a fo'c's'le gets the fever ! 



i6 



FEVER-CHILLS 

He tottered out of the alleyway with cheeks the colour 

of paste, 
And shivered a spell and mopped his brow with a clout 

of cotton waste : 
*I've a lick of fever-chills/ he said, **n' my inside it's 

green, 
But I'd be as right as rain,' he said, ^if I had some 

quinine, — 
But there ain't no quinine for us poor sailor-men. 

*But them there passengers,' he said, *if they gets fever- 
chills. 

There's brimmin' buckets o' quinine for them, 'n' bulgin' 
crates o' pills, 

'N' a doctor with Latin 'n' drugs 'n' all — enough to 
sink a town, 

'N' they lies quiet in their blushin' bunks 'n' mops their 
gruel down, — 
But there ain't none o' them fine ways for us poor sailor- 
men. 

^But the Chief comes forrard 'n' he says, says he, "I give 
you a straight tip :