[TexasGator]

"The coal/sail era always seemed romantic, as long as someone else did the shoveling."

The navy rating was coal passer.

[Cold Heart]

I had a sailor on my watch who bragged he had a coal passers endorsement from the Great Lakes. When I retold the story in front of him to others (the old back hand compliment), I said the doctor pulled him off the ship when he heard he was passing coal.