Nautical Wit 'n Wisdom.....

[Coastie04]

In the Great Age of Velcro, rope, knots, and all things done with them seem charmingly irrelevant. Then you step aboard a sailboat and realize that the rules have changed.

-David Seidman

[Coastie04]

When, staunchly entering a port, after long ventures, hauling up, worn and old, batter'd by the sea and wind, torn by many a fight, with the original sails all gone, replaced, or mended, I only saw, at last, the beauty of the ship...

-Walt Whitman

[the Royaliste]

The velcro one was most excellent, Coastie!

Sooner or later, the spurious in a man's character will become apparent at sea.

-William McFee

[Captain of the 'REVENGE']

"Tis quite a sight, these two warbirds, quietly leavin' harbor; dusky, white wings spread wide to the Southwesterly Trades...Jibbooms and sprits'l yards piercing the future,....mizzen booms leaving the past......Ah, the Sea!"..........

-Luke Ryan, exerpted from 'Tales of the Seven Seas'

[Nyre The Black Rose]

Aye, mateys, don't 'afta read 'em if'n ye don't want, but 'eres a nautical thought or quip for the day...'A sailing ship is an exceedingly complex,sensitive, and capricious creation- quite as much so as most human beings. Her coquetry and exasperating deviltry have been the delight and despair of seamen's hearts, at least since the days when the wise, though much-married, Solomon declared that among the things that were too wonderful for him andwhich he knew not, was " the way of a ship in the midst of the sea."..Capt. Arthur H. Clark

Aha Captian you made me look, but I love the Jimi Hendrix and Alfred Hitchock best.

Travel by sea nearly approximates the bliss of babyhood. They feed you, rock you gently to sleep and when you wake up, they take care of you and feed you again. Geoffrey Bocca

:) There is nothing quite so good as burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating. Alfred Hitchcock

But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Kahlil Gibran

Even Castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually. Jimi Hendrix

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[Captain of the 'REVENGE']

"Hmmm,..'Castles made of sand is one of my all time favorites.."look, a golden winged ship is passin' my way"-Jimi, 'Castles Made of Sand'

By and large the fewer official holes there are in any boat the better unless adequately supervised.

-Peter Gerard

[Coastie04]

The five of us divided the watches, moving in progression in a system so complicated that an argument invariable arose every four hours.

-Edward H. Dodd, Jr.

A small craft on the ocean is, or should be, a benevolent dictatorship.

-Tristan Jones

[the Royaliste]

The port captain, a Chilean naval officer, advised me to ship hands to fight Indians in the strait(of Magellan) farther west...I found only one man willing to embark, and he on condition that I should ship another "mon with a doog." But as no one else was willing to come along, and as I drew the line at dogs, I said no more about the matter, but simply loaded my guns. At this point in my dilemma Captain Pedro Samblich...gave me a bag of carpet-tacks, worth more than all the fighting men and dogs of Tierra del Fuego. I protested that I had no use for carpet-tacks on board. Samblich smiled at m want of experience, and maintained stoutly that I would have use for them. "You must use them with discretion," he said; " That is to say, don't step on them yourself." With this remote hint about the use of tacks I got all right, and saw the way to maintain clear decks at night without the care of watching.

-Joshua Slocum

[Captain of the 'REVENGE']

To be on water is a comfort to the soul of man

Carleton Mitchell

The idea of escaping the problems of life by sailing away is a fable

-Tristan Jones

[Coastie04]

I started celebrating my birthday drinking a bottle of wine...sitting in the cockpit with a champagne cocktail...full rig, smoking jacket, smart new trousers, black shoes, etc. The only slipup is that I have left my bow-tie behind, and have had to use an ordinary black tie.

-Sir Francis Chichester

Happy Adventure puttered blindly into the dark and brooding murk and I was soon fog-chilled, unutterably lonely, and scared to death. Since rum is a known and accepted antidote for all three conditions I took a long, curative drink for each separate ailment.

-Farley Mowat

[the Royaliste]

"They call me Ishmael"

(Hell, we all know the rest!,...'tis such a fine maritime morning shipboard today, that I just couldn't resist!!!!)

[the Royaliste]

The sailing ship was an exacting mistress to serve. She was all that; she was a heart-breaking wench at times, yet none the less a Cleopatra among the sisterhood of the sea, inspiring an affection the lady-like liner is powerless to evoke.

-Rex Clemens

[endkaos]

How richly glows the water's breast

Before us, tinged with evening hues,

While, facing thus the crimson west,

The boat her silent course pursues!

-William Wordsworth

[endkaos]

"Like any unmanned ship, a novice sailor will eventually steer into the wind."

A personal quote of mine learned from experience.

[the Royaliste]

" She was an interesting little cutter..."

-Ben Franklin, on describing the 'BLACK PRINCE', 75 prizes taken in under one year off the coasts of England and Ireland

[Coastie04]

"Respect for the sea leads to respect for others. It's the professional quality I admire and have found in many sailors. Mother Nature truly can make her children humble, and that leads to this respect."

-Wendy Joseph

[the Royaliste]

Their blood ran cold with horror

As they gazed on the awful scene

Their faces paled with anguish

And their gills turned faintly green

For seldom has anyone suffered

As they did that horrible night

Seldom before have humans

Beheld such a ghastly sight

There on the deck before them

The shattered remnants reek

And a steady stream of crimson

Seeped into the thirsty teak

As they stood in breathless silence

As men who were stricken dumb

For they had just seen the coxswain

Break a jug of issue rum.

- from the South Shore Naval Association dinner menu

[hitman]

WHY SAILORS ARE SUPERSTIOUS.

It is bad luck to set sail on a Friday. This was a much held belive and a reason to raise your premiums until the turn of the century (1899-1900)

"In 1894 a scots merchant and ship owner in liverpool became incensed at haveing to compensate his captins and crews for laying over unti l saturday. Nor was he excited by the prospect of paying outrageous premiums to greedy insurance company owners. He decided to explode the old wives' tale once and for all. He ordered a ship built. Her keel was lais on Friday and christened the friday on Friday. A captin was even found whose name was Friday. Then after loading an expensive cargo on board and refuseing to insure it, the Scots merchant waved farewell as the good ship Friday sailed off bound for New York. The good ship Friday and her intrepid crew were never seen or heard from agian."

From Clive Cusslers "The Sea Hunters" chapt. 2

So Royaliste you be stayin in port today mate??