These are a few navy sayings that that may not make sense to you, but were common in the sixties.
1, Scuttlebutt. In old navy times a drinking fountain was called a scuttlebutt. Sailors would gather around the drinking fountain and this was where rumors would start, rumors like when is our next liberty, when are we homeward bound, when are we going back on the fighting line? Rumors about the new Ship’s Captain.The term scuttlebutt is still in use as a rumor mill.
2, Fart sack. This one still makes me smile. Abord ship we had a steel slab we slept on, like a slab in a mortuary. There was a 4 inch cotton tick mattress on the slab. We didn’t have regular sheets to cover the mattress. What we did have was a cotton sheet that covered the top and bottom of the mattress. The navy served beans at every meal and you can deduce the result.
3, Water Hours. There were often times when we went on water hours. What would happen is the ship’s boiler that was used to produce hot water for sinks and showers would be out of commission, so water to the showers was turned off. There was only cold water to the sinks for shaving and washing one’s face or brushing teeth. One time a sailor in my bunking area on the Kitty Hawk left the area to take a shower. He came back a few minutes later and asked, “when did they turn off the showers?” Our reply in unison was, “Almost two weeks ago!”
4, Head. It’s not the bow of a ship, it’s the bathroom. Why that came about, I do not know exactly, but it was something to do with the old days of sailing ships.
5, Skivvies. This was what civilians call underpants. Skivvies have an open fly and things kind of fall out through the opening. That’s all we had in boot camp, but once I got out of boot camp I tossed my skivvies and replaced them with normal underwear.
6, Honker. This refers to women of ill repute and I need no more to say about that.
7, General Quarters. This is what is relayed over the ship’s communication system to all hands when we would go to battle stations. Along with the call to general quarters the next thing said is, “All hands man you battle stations,” and then the constant bells went off or sirens wailed until everyone was at their stations.
8, Webilie. This was peculiar to the Kitty Hawk on my first cruise. I believe it was 5 or 6 in the morning when the Bosun's mate came over the ship's communication system. He was supposed to say was reveille, reveille, reveille all hands heave out and trice up. This meant everyone get out of bed and lift up and latch up the bottom bunk so the daily compartment cleaners could sweep and mop under the lower bunks. During that cruise we had a tongue tied Bosun that called out webilie, webilie, webilee. He got the rest out okay, he just couldn’t say reveille.
9, Field Day. A civilian would likely think of people racing around a track or pole vaulting, or throwing a javelin. In the navy it meant all hands clean your quarters and workshops. Not nearly as glamorous as field and track. One time aboard the Enterprise (the aircraft carrier, not the starship) we were tasked with a field day for an inspection the next morning. We were in port and would rather have been on liberty, but we were cleaning our shop. After a while we were almost done when things got loud and rowdy, just sailors having a little fun. The next thing that happened was the ship’s captain and the executive officer came rushing into our shop. We were making enough noise that they heard us way down the passageway. It was not a good time to meet your ship’s captain, but we did. I was thinking we were in deep dodo. The captain saw there was no riot going on so all he said was keep the noise down and the two officers left the area. A few minutes later the executive officer came back into the shop and said, (It’s okay to be skylarking, just not in front of the four striper.) A four striper is a navy captain while a three striper is a navy commander.
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