“you speak of the traditions of the Royal Navy? ‘And what are they? They are rum, sodomy and the lash’.”
Winston Churchill
The captain had a cabin boy,
The dirty little nipper ...
Terrible end to a tradition - but the fact that a ship had to be recalled for such a reason is very disturbing.
My guess is it will spread throughout the other Royal Navies soon enough either for good reason, or just because of an increasingly PC ideal.
Ping.
Stay thirsty me mates.
Time for a double ration of me grog.
I’m thinking that the transition to a ‘dry’ navy will result in the next craft brewing revolution...
I used to spend time with foreign armies sometimes and saw a lot of drinking, for instance the French filled their canteens with wine, even during exercises and of course wine was available for breakfast if one wanted, but I was the only one I saw indulging in that. Wine was a part of lunch, and then before supper it was drinks in the canteen, and then wine at dinner, either (always) free red wine, or you could purchase better wine for your meal. When not in garrison on at a permanent training camp, the French kept the drinking canteen in a large tent.
The Germans indulged and would have beer flown out to them in the field on exercises.
What’s next, no cabin boys?
I went aboard a French Frigate in the Indian Ocean once back in the 70s. I swear they had a water type fountain that spewed out wine.
As we were putting out to sea,
We spied a German warship.
The Captain paced the quarter-deck,
Parading, in his corset.
"What ho!" we cried, "We'll sink your ship!"
And so we up and sinked her,
But the cabin boy was saved alive,
And buggered in the sphincter.
Now every day is Saint Famine’s Day.
Don't drink, Don't smoke, what do you do.
I’m surprised they still allow anything like that these days. We have regressed in so many ways socially, treating people like dumb, helpless babies who can’t make any decisions on their own.
I recall steering my ship while on night duty. I was a petty officer. Those were the days for debauchery. I’d be steering, yes, but in my right hand, I had a More Menthol 100ml cigarette. I’n my left hand I held a styrofoam cup with Wild Turkey Bourbon. It was for my cold. The Bourbon, I mean. That would not happen today. I steered from about 10pm until 6.30am the next morning. All was well.
Will that ban be for enlisted personnel only or will officers be included?
Few know that all three branches of the Canadian Military , air , sea and ground have only 100,000 standing , full time members.This is a nation of some 23 million peple.
Many reserve units are in a better state of training than some portions of the CAF. Yet they can die and surrender bilingually in French and English.
Canada does not have the money to fund a military, its money goes for socialized medicine and bilingualism. This has Prime Minister Harper extremely worried, because Canada can no longer count on the USA for defence against Russia , with Obama’s isolationist policies.( Putin will expand Russian sovereignty in the Canadian artic and there is not a damn thing Canada can do about that.)
“Canadian Navy Bans Drinking at Sea”
That bites. I had a cruise planned next summer on a Canadian ship. Unfortunately it is mostly in Canada...so it looks like I’ll be canceling that.