AHOY YE MATIES!

TRUTH IS, I’VE HAD ONLY A FEW sea-faring adventures, but its lore seems to attract itself to me. Here are a couple more tidbits together with some St. Thomas recollections.

Sea-going Etymology. The wordgenius website offers “Ahoy! Everyday Phrases From the Open Sea.” Indeed, I hadn’t realized these had sea-going origins.

Cat’s Out of the Bag. “Loose lips sink ships,” wordgenius notes, “and this classic feline idiom refers to a secret being revealed. One theory suggests that the Royal Navy’s cat o’nine tails, which was a type of whip used for punishment, was stored in a bag to protect it from salty air. If a secret comes out, there would be pain and punishment. On a similar catty note, the expression ‘not enough room to swing a cat’ that refers to close quarters is also linked to naval slang and not having enough space to bring out the whip.”

Three Sheets to the Wind. To sailors, “sheets” are ropes used to trim the sails. And, as wordgenius says, “Changing all three sheets to sit sideways to the wind is typically only used in a major storm to help balance the boat. The position of the sheets means things are getting more than a little topsy turvy—just like an inebriated sailor.”

Scuttlebutt. The website notes, “This quirky word refers to a rumor or gossip. Back in the early 1900s, sailors would get their drinking water from a ‘water butt’ on the deck of a ship. Just as in modern times, this old-fashioned water cooler was the spot for gossip swaps.”

At Least I got Some Lingo Right. My nautical experiences while living on St. Thomas were limited to other peoples’ boats: Occasionally we’d score a dinner aboard a cruise ship when enough of its passengers were enjoying STT dining. We once sailed on the True Love, the star of High Society, the 1956 flick also starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. 

Bing sings “True Love” to Grace aboard the True Love.

The True Love has been in charter for years. In 2008, she moved from the Caribbean to Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of New York. There’s more info about her at The True Love Schooner.

My Day as Captain. On another memorable occasion, a distant kin visited STT, hired a 32-ft twin-screw cruiser, and persuaded me to captain her to nearby cays for unique birding. Armed with proper charts to keep her safe, I even learned how to use the twin throttles to maneuver back into her dock at the end of the day. 

Arg! Sir. Blake Stilwell at Military.com, October 25, 2023, writes about “The Only Navy Warship Authorized to Fly a Pirate Flag at Sea.”

The U.S.S. Kidd, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, formerly of the U.S. Navy fleet. Image by U.S. Navy/Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Montemarano from military.com. 

Stilwell describes, “The USS Kidd’s pirate flag, the infamous skull and crossbones that hearkens back to the Golden Age of Piracy that spanned the 17th and 18th centuries, is the only one the U.S. Navy has ever allowed to fly on one of its ships. And like most bizarre things that happen inside the Navy, it starts with an honored tradition, one dating back to World War II.”

Stilwell recounts, “The USS Kidd is named for Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who was killed aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the first American flag officer to die in World War II.”

“When a Fletcher-class destroyer was named for Rear Adm. Kidd in 1943,” Stilwell writes, “its crew immediately adopted the pirate theme, with the blessing of Isaac Kidd’s widow, Inez. Inez Kidd even convinced the Navy to formally give the USS Kidd express permission to fly the pirate flag. 

The Fletcher-class U.S.S. Kidd during World War II. Image from U.S. Navy.

Stilwell says, “That first crew of the Kidd began calling themselves ‘the Pirates of the Pacific,‘ picking up downed naval aviators and returning them to their carriers in exchange for a ‘ransom’ of ice cream.”

The Second Kidd. Stilwell completes the tale: “That initial USS Kidd, which served the U.S. Navy off and on until 1964, is now a museum ship. In 1981, a new USS Kidd, the first of its eponymous class of warships, entered service and inherited the tradition (and permission) to hoist the Jolly Roger until it was given to Taiwan in 1998.”

I wonder how to say “Arg!” in Taiwanese Hakka, Hokkien, or Mandarin. ds  

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024