Stream of Consciousness – 8/10 – Ship Shape

A favorite term among the older seamen of my acquaintance was “A calm Sea, Never a good sailor made.” There are at least a dozen variations on this saying, and everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to his cousin Franklin gets quoted as saying it. 

Sailors have a penchant for friendly competition. And the seamanly way to settle a dispute like this is to use a pool! We all contribute to a pool, and the one who’s proven right takes home the entire contents of the pool. If there were a ship’s pool for this saying, I’d wager that a Phoenician bosun mate was the first to bellow it to the galley rowers on the inaugural voyage to the Pillars of Hercules. That, and his threat of, ” Put your backs into it, you lazy swabs! Or there’ll be no wine at the Blue Anchor tonight!”

While sailors, like fish, like bright, flashy doodads for their life on the briny deep, they can be deeply conservative in other ways. So remember, be “ship shape and Bristol fashion” while “letting the cat out of the bag” or getting “three sheets to the wind.”