Wrecked on Friday 16th August 1833. The Flamingo was commanded by Captain Lingard and on a voyage from the Crozet Islands in Kerguelen Basin of the Southern Ocean of Antartica with a cargo of elephant seal oil. She was becalmed off Buffels Bay when her cargo caught fire. The fire spread rapidly and the captain ordered the lowering of the whaleboat. He just had time to save the chronometer and after hurriedly leaving the ship there was a sudden explosion. The Flamingo then eventually drifted onto the rocks in front of you. All crew survived and made it to Simonstown the same day.
Combustible cargo was the most common cause of ship fires. Before the invention of commercial fertilisers, manure was transported by ship. It was shipped in dry bundles, because dry it weighs a lot less than wet. Once it became damp or wet at sea, it not only became heavier, but started fermenting and producing methane gas. It did not take long for this gas to build up below deck and the first time anyone went below with a lantern or naked flame the ship exploded and sank without a trace. Several ships were destroyed in this manner before anyone discovered what was going on. Once they determined the role that manure played in the explosions, the bundles were clearly marked with the term "Ship High in Transit."
Sailors would then know to stow it high enough of the lower decks so that any water coming into the hold would not dampen this cargo and begin the production of methane.
This term has evolved to become the expletive we know today.