Minuteman
06/15/2006, 10:56 AM
Dead Horse
When a Sailor pays off a debt to the command (advance pay, overpayments, etc...) they say they've paid off a Dead Horse. The saying comes from a tradition of British sailors. British seamen, apt to be ashore and unemployed for considerable periods of time between voyages, generally preferred to live in boarding houses near the piers while waiting for sailing ships to take on crews.
During these periods of unrestricted liberty, many ran out of money, so innkeepers carried them on credit until hired out for another voyage. When a seaman was booked on a ship, he was customarily advanced a month's wages, if needed, to pay off his boarding house debt. Then, while paying back the ship's master, he worked for nothing but "salt horse" the first several weeks aboard.
Salt horse was the staple diet of early sailors and it wasn't exactly tasty cuisine. Consisting of a low quality beef that had been heavily salted, the salt horse was tough to chew and even harder to digest. When the debt had been repaid, the salt horse was said to be dead and it was a time for great celebration among the crew. Usually, an effigy of a horse was constructed from odds and ends, set afire and then cast afloat to the cheers and hilarity of the ex-debtors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manning the Rails
This custom evolved from the centuries old practice of "manning the yards." Men aboard sailing ships stood evenly spaced on all the yards and gave three cheers to honor a distinguished person.
Now men and women are stationed along the rails of a ship when honors are rendered to the President, the heads of a foreign state, or a member of a reigning royal family. Men and women so stationed do not salute. Navy ships will often man the rails when entering a port, or when returning to the ship's homeport at the end of a deployment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salutes
The hand salute is the military custom you will learn first and use most while in the military. It is centuries old, and probably originated when men in armor raised their helmet visors so they could be identified. Salutes are customarily given with the right hand, but there are exceptions. A Sailor, whose right arm or hand is encumbered may salute left-handed, while people in the Army or Air Force never salute left-handed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun Salutes
In the days of cannon, it took as long as twenty minutes to load and fire a gun. When a ship fired her guns in salute, she rendered herself powerless for the duration. By emptying their guns, the ship's crew showed shore batteries and forts that they were no threat. Over time, this gesture became a show of respect, with both shore and ship gun batteries firing volleys.
While many people like to say the 21 gun salute was a tribute to the American Revolution, a number determined as a result of adding together the numbers 1+7+7+6, the truth is the 21 gun salute was an effort to cut costs. The habit of firing salutes became wasteful, with ships and shore batteries firing shots for hours on end. This was particularly expensive for ships, which had a limited space to store powder (which went bad quickly in the salt air). The British admiralty first dictated the policies now in place as a practical matter to save gunpowder. The rule was simple, for every volley fired by a ship in salute, a shore battery could return up to three shots. The regulations limited ships to a total of seven shots in salute, so the 21 gun-salute became the salute used to honor the only the most important dignitaries.
Today, the U.S. Navy Regulations proscribe that only those ships and stations designated by the Secretary of the Navy may fire gun salutes. A national salute of 21 guns is fired on
Washington's Birthday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
To honor the President of the United States
To honor heads of foreign states.
Additionally, ships may, with approval from the office of the Secretary of the Navy, provide gun salutes for naval officers on significant occasions, using the following protocol:
Admiral -17 guns
Vice Admiral -15 guns
Rear Admiral (upper half) -13 guns
Rear Admiral (lower half) -11 guns
All gun salutes are fired at five second intervals. Gun salutes will always total an odd number.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bell-Bottom Trousers
The Sailor's bell-bottom trousers, which came to epitomize '60s and early '70s fashion, are actually a practical item for Sailors living aboard ship. The wide, flared, legs are easy to roll up when swabbing a deck or wading through slightly flooded spaces.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ornamental Sleeve Buttons
The decorative bone buttons that are today sewn on many suit jackets, sports coats and blazers began as an effort by Lord Nelson to keep young midshipmen and cabin boys from wiping their noses on their sleeves.
In the days of sail, young boys, often as young as nine years old, would sign on sailing ships as cabin boys, usually becoming midshipmen as they got older. Many, particularly on their first voyages, would become homesick, tearfully tending to their duties in their fancy gentlemen's uniform. That uniform had no pockets for a handkerchief, so the young boys would, like all young boys, wipe their noses on their sleeves.
To break his cabin boys and midshipmen of this ungentlemanly habit, Lord Nelson had large brass buttons sewn on the sleeves of all midshipmen and cabin boy uniforms. The decorative value of the buttons were soon realized, and in short order, London tailors were adding decorative buttons to frocks, coats, and dinner jackets. Though the buttons have become less gaudy, the practice continues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sally Ship
"Sally ship" was not a ship but a method of loosening a vessel that ran aground from the mud holding her fast. In the days before sophisticated navigation equipment, ships ran aground much more often than today. A grounded ship could be freed with little or no hull damage if she could be rocked out of her muddy predicament.
To free her, the order was given to "sally ship". The crew gathered in a line along one side and then ran from port to starboard and back and forth until the vessel began to roll. Often the rolling broke the mud's suction and she could be pulled free and gotten underway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dress Ship
Commissioned ships are "full-dressed" on Washington's Birthday and Independence Day, and "dressed" on other national holidays. When a ship is dressed, the national ensign is flown from the flagstaff and usually from each masthead. When a ship is full-dressed, in addition to the ensigns, a "rainbow" of signal flags is displayed from bow to stern over the mastheads, or as nearly so as the construction of the ships permits. Ships not under way are dressed from 0800 to sunset; ships under way do not dress until they come to anchor during that period.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marooned
This old punishment for mutineers consisted of placing them on an island with musket, cutlass, and a breaker of water; and leaving them to their fate. It got its name from a certain Cimaroon Indians who had been transplanted in the West Indies as cheap labor and, deserted by their Spanish masters, had been left to starve to death. The famous Captain Drake discovered them in a pitiable condition and gained the Indian's lasting gratitude by returning them to their far-off home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passing Honors
Passing honors are ordered by ships and boats when vessels, embarked officials, or embarked officers pass (or are passed) close aboard - 600 yards for ships, 400 yards for boats.
Such honors are exchanged between ships of the U.S. Navy, between ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard, and between U.S. and most foreign navy ships passing close aboard. "Attention" is sounded, and the hand salute is rendered by all persons in view on deck (not in ranks).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dungarees
Webster defines dungaree as "a coarse kind of fabric worn by the poorer class of people and also used for tents and sail." We find it hard to picture our favorite pair of dungarees flying from the mast of a sailing ship, but in those days Sailors often made both their working clothes and hammocks out of discarded sail cloth.
The cloth used then wasn't as well woven nor was it dyed blue, but it served the purpose. Dungarees worn by Sailors of the Continental Navy were cut directly from old sails and remained tan in color just as they been when filled with wind. After battles, it was the practice in both the American and British Navies for Captains to report more sail lost in battle than actually was the case so the crew would have cloth to mend their hammocks and make new clothes. Since the cloth was called dungaree, clothes made from the fabric borrowed the name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fathom
Fathom was originally a land measuring term derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "fætm" meaning literally the embracing arms, or to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average sizes of parts of the body, such as the hand or foot, or were derived from average length between two points on the body.
A fathom is the average distance from middle-fingertip to middle-fingertip of the outstretched arms of a six-foot tall man. Even today in our nuclear Navy, Sailors can be seen "guess-timating" the length of line by using the Anglo-Saxon fingertip method; crude but still reliable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boatswain & Coxswain
As required by 17th Century law, British ships-of-war carried three smaller boats, the boat, the ****-boat, and the skiff. The boat - or gig - was usually used by the Captain to go ashore and was the larger of the three. The ****-boat was a very small rowboat used as the ship's tender. The skiff was a lightweight all-purpose vessel. The suffix "swain" means keeper, thus the keepers of the boat, ****, and skiff were called boatswain and cockswain (or coxswain).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bitter End
As any able-bodied seaman can tell you, a turn of a line around a bitt, those wooden or iron posts sticking through a ship's deck, is called a bitter. Thus the last of the line secured to the bitts is known as the bitter end. Nautical usage has somewhat expanded the original definition in that today the end of any line, secured to bitts or not, is called a bitter end.
The landlubbing phrases "stick to the bitter end" and "faithful to the bitter end" are derivations of the nautical term and refer to anyone who insists on adhering to a course of action without regard to consequences.
When a Sailor pays off a debt to the command (advance pay, overpayments, etc...) they say they've paid off a Dead Horse. The saying comes from a tradition of British sailors. British seamen, apt to be ashore and unemployed for considerable periods of time between voyages, generally preferred to live in boarding houses near the piers while waiting for sailing ships to take on crews.
During these periods of unrestricted liberty, many ran out of money, so innkeepers carried them on credit until hired out for another voyage. When a seaman was booked on a ship, he was customarily advanced a month's wages, if needed, to pay off his boarding house debt. Then, while paying back the ship's master, he worked for nothing but "salt horse" the first several weeks aboard.
Salt horse was the staple diet of early sailors and it wasn't exactly tasty cuisine. Consisting of a low quality beef that had been heavily salted, the salt horse was tough to chew and even harder to digest. When the debt had been repaid, the salt horse was said to be dead and it was a time for great celebration among the crew. Usually, an effigy of a horse was constructed from odds and ends, set afire and then cast afloat to the cheers and hilarity of the ex-debtors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manning the Rails
This custom evolved from the centuries old practice of "manning the yards." Men aboard sailing ships stood evenly spaced on all the yards and gave three cheers to honor a distinguished person.
Now men and women are stationed along the rails of a ship when honors are rendered to the President, the heads of a foreign state, or a member of a reigning royal family. Men and women so stationed do not salute. Navy ships will often man the rails when entering a port, or when returning to the ship's homeport at the end of a deployment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salutes
The hand salute is the military custom you will learn first and use most while in the military. It is centuries old, and probably originated when men in armor raised their helmet visors so they could be identified. Salutes are customarily given with the right hand, but there are exceptions. A Sailor, whose right arm or hand is encumbered may salute left-handed, while people in the Army or Air Force never salute left-handed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun Salutes
In the days of cannon, it took as long as twenty minutes to load and fire a gun. When a ship fired her guns in salute, she rendered herself powerless for the duration. By emptying their guns, the ship's crew showed shore batteries and forts that they were no threat. Over time, this gesture became a show of respect, with both shore and ship gun batteries firing volleys.
While many people like to say the 21 gun salute was a tribute to the American Revolution, a number determined as a result of adding together the numbers 1+7+7+6, the truth is the 21 gun salute was an effort to cut costs. The habit of firing salutes became wasteful, with ships and shore batteries firing shots for hours on end. This was particularly expensive for ships, which had a limited space to store powder (which went bad quickly in the salt air). The British admiralty first dictated the policies now in place as a practical matter to save gunpowder. The rule was simple, for every volley fired by a ship in salute, a shore battery could return up to three shots. The regulations limited ships to a total of seven shots in salute, so the 21 gun-salute became the salute used to honor the only the most important dignitaries.
Today, the U.S. Navy Regulations proscribe that only those ships and stations designated by the Secretary of the Navy may fire gun salutes. A national salute of 21 guns is fired on
Washington's Birthday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
To honor the President of the United States
To honor heads of foreign states.
Additionally, ships may, with approval from the office of the Secretary of the Navy, provide gun salutes for naval officers on significant occasions, using the following protocol:
Admiral -17 guns
Vice Admiral -15 guns
Rear Admiral (upper half) -13 guns
Rear Admiral (lower half) -11 guns
All gun salutes are fired at five second intervals. Gun salutes will always total an odd number.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bell-Bottom Trousers
The Sailor's bell-bottom trousers, which came to epitomize '60s and early '70s fashion, are actually a practical item for Sailors living aboard ship. The wide, flared, legs are easy to roll up when swabbing a deck or wading through slightly flooded spaces.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ornamental Sleeve Buttons
The decorative bone buttons that are today sewn on many suit jackets, sports coats and blazers began as an effort by Lord Nelson to keep young midshipmen and cabin boys from wiping their noses on their sleeves.
In the days of sail, young boys, often as young as nine years old, would sign on sailing ships as cabin boys, usually becoming midshipmen as they got older. Many, particularly on their first voyages, would become homesick, tearfully tending to their duties in their fancy gentlemen's uniform. That uniform had no pockets for a handkerchief, so the young boys would, like all young boys, wipe their noses on their sleeves.
To break his cabin boys and midshipmen of this ungentlemanly habit, Lord Nelson had large brass buttons sewn on the sleeves of all midshipmen and cabin boy uniforms. The decorative value of the buttons were soon realized, and in short order, London tailors were adding decorative buttons to frocks, coats, and dinner jackets. Though the buttons have become less gaudy, the practice continues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sally Ship
"Sally ship" was not a ship but a method of loosening a vessel that ran aground from the mud holding her fast. In the days before sophisticated navigation equipment, ships ran aground much more often than today. A grounded ship could be freed with little or no hull damage if she could be rocked out of her muddy predicament.
To free her, the order was given to "sally ship". The crew gathered in a line along one side and then ran from port to starboard and back and forth until the vessel began to roll. Often the rolling broke the mud's suction and she could be pulled free and gotten underway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dress Ship
Commissioned ships are "full-dressed" on Washington's Birthday and Independence Day, and "dressed" on other national holidays. When a ship is dressed, the national ensign is flown from the flagstaff and usually from each masthead. When a ship is full-dressed, in addition to the ensigns, a "rainbow" of signal flags is displayed from bow to stern over the mastheads, or as nearly so as the construction of the ships permits. Ships not under way are dressed from 0800 to sunset; ships under way do not dress until they come to anchor during that period.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marooned
This old punishment for mutineers consisted of placing them on an island with musket, cutlass, and a breaker of water; and leaving them to their fate. It got its name from a certain Cimaroon Indians who had been transplanted in the West Indies as cheap labor and, deserted by their Spanish masters, had been left to starve to death. The famous Captain Drake discovered them in a pitiable condition and gained the Indian's lasting gratitude by returning them to their far-off home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passing Honors
Passing honors are ordered by ships and boats when vessels, embarked officials, or embarked officers pass (or are passed) close aboard - 600 yards for ships, 400 yards for boats.
Such honors are exchanged between ships of the U.S. Navy, between ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard, and between U.S. and most foreign navy ships passing close aboard. "Attention" is sounded, and the hand salute is rendered by all persons in view on deck (not in ranks).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dungarees
Webster defines dungaree as "a coarse kind of fabric worn by the poorer class of people and also used for tents and sail." We find it hard to picture our favorite pair of dungarees flying from the mast of a sailing ship, but in those days Sailors often made both their working clothes and hammocks out of discarded sail cloth.
The cloth used then wasn't as well woven nor was it dyed blue, but it served the purpose. Dungarees worn by Sailors of the Continental Navy were cut directly from old sails and remained tan in color just as they been when filled with wind. After battles, it was the practice in both the American and British Navies for Captains to report more sail lost in battle than actually was the case so the crew would have cloth to mend their hammocks and make new clothes. Since the cloth was called dungaree, clothes made from the fabric borrowed the name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fathom
Fathom was originally a land measuring term derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "fætm" meaning literally the embracing arms, or to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average sizes of parts of the body, such as the hand or foot, or were derived from average length between two points on the body.
A fathom is the average distance from middle-fingertip to middle-fingertip of the outstretched arms of a six-foot tall man. Even today in our nuclear Navy, Sailors can be seen "guess-timating" the length of line by using the Anglo-Saxon fingertip method; crude but still reliable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boatswain & Coxswain
As required by 17th Century law, British ships-of-war carried three smaller boats, the boat, the ****-boat, and the skiff. The boat - or gig - was usually used by the Captain to go ashore and was the larger of the three. The ****-boat was a very small rowboat used as the ship's tender. The skiff was a lightweight all-purpose vessel. The suffix "swain" means keeper, thus the keepers of the boat, ****, and skiff were called boatswain and cockswain (or coxswain).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bitter End
As any able-bodied seaman can tell you, a turn of a line around a bitt, those wooden or iron posts sticking through a ship's deck, is called a bitter. Thus the last of the line secured to the bitts is known as the bitter end. Nautical usage has somewhat expanded the original definition in that today the end of any line, secured to bitts or not, is called a bitter end.
The landlubbing phrases "stick to the bitter end" and "faithful to the bitter end" are derivations of the nautical term and refer to anyone who insists on adhering to a course of action without regard to consequences.