Greetings From The UK
Press gangs and pigs that can fly
In the days of the wooden sailing ship, life was very hard for the common sailor. Conditions on these ships were arduous with poor food, rigid discipline and a much reduced life expectancy. It is therefore not surprising that no one would volunteer for such a life. The Royal Navy needing an ever increasing number of men to man their growing fleet, resorted to the press gang.
The early press gangs operated within the law. They would frequent the bars on the lookout for any young, strong and fit looking male. Having found their target, they would persuade the poor fellow into volunteering as they bought the beer, ensuring that the victim became more and more incapable, until he would agree to almost anything. So the poor wretch would awake from his drunken sleep to find himself on one of his Majesty's Warships. He was now subject to the full rigours of military discipline, so there was no turning back
Press gangs would often use trickery. When the victim was not looking, they would drop a shilling into his tankard of ale. Having drunk the ale, the victim was classed as having accepted the Kings shilling and therefore had "Volunteered" to serve on a Warship. Any argument and the "Volunteer" was knocked unconscious only to come round as a fully paid up crew member, so once again there was no turning back.
A shilling (12 pennies) carried an impression of the Kings head and was a substantial sum of money in those days. The landlords in charge of these port bars were rapidly losing their customers with this trick, so they introduced the glass bottom tankard. This enabled the drinker to check to ensure that there was not a shilling in the tankard before he drank the ale. Even today in the UK, newly purchased pewter tankards have this glass bottom, so the tradition continues.
Press gangs soon realised that they could keep these shillings for themselves if they simply used force and kidnapped the victim. This became common place.
However operating the press gang had one disadvantage. As the British man-of-war approached the port it could be seen many hours before it docked. This was the signal for all able bodied men on land to go into hiding. The press gang found no one in the port suitable for service and the men did not come out of hiding until the ship had sailed.
This made it necessary for press gangs to travel much further inland in order to "recruit" the next crew. Farm workers who had never even seen the sea suddenly found themselves in the strange environment of the sailing ship. For these men this life had absolutely nothing in common with the life they had just left.
To try to find some identity these crews used farming and animal terms to describe life at sea. The first and second dog watches (A specific time of day) became the norm, and the officer that held the discipline over these men was not surprisingly referred to as a pig.
These terms are still commonplace in today's Royal Navy and the young sailor will still refer to an officer as a pig. But not of course when the officer is within earshot. In fact although today it is still technically an insult, it has almost become a term of endearment.
In our modern Navy with the fleet air arm being the main weapons system, it is the officer that is trained to pilot the modern fighting jet aircraft. So thanks to our farming history being intertwined with our seafaring history, we can say in all honesty that we do have pigs that can fly.
Not a lot of people knows that.... as Michael Caine would say
Odd how many expressions we have from our Naval past
The early press gangs operated within the law. They would frequent the bars on the lookout for any young, strong and fit looking male. Having found their target, they would persuade the poor fellow into volunteering as they bought the beer, ensuring that the victim became more and more incapable, until he would agree to almost anything. So the poor wretch would awake from his drunken sleep to find himself on one of his Majesty's Warships. He was now subject to the full rigours of military discipline, so there was no turning back
Press gangs would often use trickery. When the victim was not looking, they would drop a shilling into his tankard of ale. Having drunk the ale, the victim was classed as having accepted the Kings shilling and therefore had "Volunteered" to serve on a Warship. Any argument and the "Volunteer" was knocked unconscious only to come round as a fully paid up crew member, so once again there was no turning back.
A shilling (12 pennies) carried an impression of the Kings head and was a substantial sum of money in those days. The landlords in charge of these port bars were rapidly losing their customers with this trick, so they introduced the glass bottom tankard. This enabled the drinker to check to ensure that there was not a shilling in the tankard before he drank the ale. Even today in the UK, newly purchased pewter tankards have this glass bottom, so the tradition continues.
Press gangs soon realised that they could keep these shillings for themselves if they simply used force and kidnapped the victim. This became common place.
However operating the press gang had one disadvantage. As the British man-of-war approached the port it could be seen many hours before it docked. This was the signal for all able bodied men on land to go into hiding. The press gang found no one in the port suitable for service and the men did not come out of hiding until the ship had sailed.
This made it necessary for press gangs to travel much further inland in order to "recruit" the next crew. Farm workers who had never even seen the sea suddenly found themselves in the strange environment of the sailing ship. For these men this life had absolutely nothing in common with the life they had just left.
To try to find some identity these crews used farming and animal terms to describe life at sea. The first and second dog watches (A specific time of day) became the norm, and the officer that held the discipline over these men was not surprisingly referred to as a pig.
These terms are still commonplace in today's Royal Navy and the young sailor will still refer to an officer as a pig. But not of course when the officer is within earshot. In fact although today it is still technically an insult, it has almost become a term of endearment.
In our modern Navy with the fleet air arm being the main weapons system, it is the officer that is trained to pilot the modern fighting jet aircraft. So thanks to our farming history being intertwined with our seafaring history, we can say in all honesty that we do have pigs that can fly.
Not a lot of people knows that.... as Michael Caine would say
Odd how many expressions we have from our Naval past
Simply Steve
