Old Naval Sayings

ffiill said:
Here are some from Captain John Smiths "An Accidence for yo(u)ng Sea-men-1626"
a boune voyage
ley fagnes(let fly?)
younkers(yank-pull)-young men who work the topsails.
The Lyer(this I love-work it out for yourselves)is to hold his place for but a weeke;and he is that first taken with a lye,euery Monday is so proclaimed at the main Mast by a general cry, "A lyer, a lyer, a lyer". He vis under the "Swabber" and only keeps clean the beake head and chaines.(The clue is in what he keeps clean)
Finally a clue perhaps to cats at the beake head(-the part of bow that looked like a beak)-"The Cat, the cats head, and Cats holes.-catting is part of securing the anchor up along side or inside of bulwark to secure for sailing.Cat rope assume used to cat the anchor and cat holes possibly holes through the bulwark to pass cat rope through when tying anchor stock against it?
The cat head usually a post at right angles to ships hull from which to launch anchor-sometimes iron with inside end bolted down onto deck so catching it with a barefoot not very nice?maybe?
see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pbtyc/B_S_M/Fittings.html
"an ouergrown sea"-overgrown
The book is also full of advise on how to catch an enemy ship;sail into position to broadside her;how to board her; not forgettiing how to built a 500 ton vessel-from timber variety;basic measurements ;construction etc.
Captain John Smith was the Captain in charge of The Virginia Companies ships and a member of the Company.
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I think that Cat-holes were cut in the stern on the same level as the capstan to act as leads for a hawser when a man-of-war was heaved astern.
 
Sandyman said:
Sure do.

Buckshee...................Free, derived from a rab word baksheesh
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Oh, I'm well aware of the concept of buckshee, still have a box of combats and bits of old webbing in my attic, just didn't know if it was a Navy term as well as an Army one.

Pete
 
pampas said:
it means dont kick the cat in hot climate

If you got the cat o nine tails for punishment in a hot climate is stuck like mad with the salt from your sweat.

I asked on a RN site your question, above is the answer that was posted by 3 of the 5 who replied.
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And in a cold climate ? ......Could you ask to keep your coat on ? .....
 
Gash bucket. Why not "garbage or rubbish containing bucket whose contents will be thrown overboard from the lee side".

So where does the word Gash come from? Are sailors word challenged?
 
Evadne said:
"Rabbit" is commonly used and understood at my workplace, both by seagoers and people who have come in from outside, so I think it may be endemic to Hampshire and the surrounding counties at well as the Navy. Not that we ever do any in work time, obviously :D
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Apparently also known as 'bunnies' according to SWMBO who is a Fareham girl but apparently crossed the tracks in her youth to meet lads from Portsmouth who worked for Kenwood in Havant
 
Rabbits

Items acquired illegally, or immorally.
Anything you could smuggle out of the dockyard gate.
Hence the expression "Tuck its ears in, mate."
Such was the dishonesty of dockyard officers, that often a ship would find something that she was entitled to was "unavailable"
Such an item could usually be "freed" by bribing the dockyard stores superintendent.
There was great ingenuity in trying to provide a bribe that would be discovered and cause trouble for the dishonest storesman, preferably after the ship sailed.
It could be said that the royal Dockyards were a rabbit farm run for the benefit of the maties.
 
binch said:
Items acquired illegally, or immorally.
Anything you could smuggle out of the dockyard gate.
Hence the expression "Tuck its ears in, mate."
Such was the dishonesty of dockyard officers, that often a ship would find something that she was entitled to was "unavailable"
Such an item could usually be "freed" by bribing the dockyard stores superintendent.
There was great ingenuity in trying to provide a bribe that would be discovered and cause trouble for the dishonest storesman, preferably after the ship sailed.
It could be said that the royal Dockyards were a rabbit farm run for the benefit of the maties.
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I was collecting a new body shell for a Rover 2000 at the London Rover Depot. As I waited in the cab for the fork lift to bring it a bloke gave a piercing whistle outside. I went to look and saw a bucket containing half a dozen wiper motors come down on a long cord from an upstairs window. The bloke emptied the bucket and legged it. The bucket shot back up on its cord. It was all over in seconds.
 
Maybe we should launch a "Jackopedia" site? Here is my contribution!

(English followed by RN Version)

Hemorrhoid = Bum Plums or Fartleberries
Submarine = Boat
Ship = Skimmer or "target" (terms used by Submariners)
Naval Aviator = W.A.F.U (Wet and F. Useless)
Steak and Kidney Pudding = Babies Heads
The Sea = Oggin
Afternoon off = Make and mend.
Engine room mechanic= Stoker
Medical Assistant (Probably called paramedics these days) = Scab lift
Members of the RN regulating branch (RN version of red caps) = Reggies
Corned Beef = Corned Dog
washing powder = dobey dust
Salt = Sea dust

I may post more later if more comes to mind - been 21 years since I left the RN so stretching the old grey cells!
 
Submariner! said:
washing powder = dobey dust
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Babylon said:
brilliant!
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Think that's another one that's also an Army term.

I can get a bit mixed up between the three though - my great grandad was in the Army, my grandad was in the Navy, my dad was in the Air Force, and I completed the circle with a very brief stint in the Army. Hence the occasional muddle about what word came from where :)

Pete
 
washing powder = dobey dust

Funnily enough have never heard of dobey dust, but the engine room washing machine which was used for washing the overalls was always called the dobey engine. :D

Mike
 
Mike Noc said:
washing powder = dobey dust

Funnily enough have never heard of dobey dust, but the engine room washing machine which was used for washing the overalls was always called the dobey engine. :D

Mike
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Just to be pedantic, dhobi, not dobey (which sounds like one of Snow White's vertically challenged chums). Comes from the British army's time in India. From Wikipedia...

"The Dhobi are a caste group found in Pakistan, India who specialize in washing clothes.[2] The word Dhobi is derived from Hindi word dhona, which means to wash."

And don't forget 'dhobi itch'
 
Sandyman said:
From Jackspeak

Rabbits..............frequent descriptive term for a gift, something proffed.
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When I first read that, I thought you had meant to write 'proffered', but when I dug out my old copy of Jackspeak, I saw that it was indeed 'proffed', which is also described in Jackspeak as meaning 'stolen'.

I see also that Buckshee is in Jackspeak.
 
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