jetsam

/ˈdʒɛtsəm/

Other forms: jetsams

Jetsam is debris floating around the water that has been dumped from a sinking ship. Sometimes beachcombers find jetsam washed up on shore.

You often see the phrase "flotsam and jetsam" because both words refer to wreckage from a ship, but how the stuff got there is the difference. Flotsam is from a shipwreck, and jetsam is thrown off the ship to prevent it from sinking. People often use jetsam to mean any discarded objects, not just from the ocean.

Definitions of jetsam

1. noun

   the part of a ship's equipment or cargo that is thrown overboard to lighten the load in a storm
   type of:

   part, portion

   something less than the whole of a human artifact
2. noun

   the floating wreckage of a ship
   synonyms: flotsam

   type of:

   wreckage

   the remaining parts of something that has been wrecked