Sea farers' language

[Des Taff Jenkins]

The stuff left out on the NZ coast for the crew after going ashore at night, was something to behold, anything you wanted to cook or grill.
A good life, you could have a holiday under the deck head's, or a kip in the centre castle.
Des

[Duke Drennan]

A good helping of Conny Onny between 2 slices of bread, still a favourite of mine.

[JerryRose]

Black pan was a meal for the 4-8pm watch keepers coming off watch

We never had ‘black pan’ on our ships. The routine was that the 8-12 watchkeeper gave us a 20 minute tea relief at 1700. But there was always stuff left out in the pantry for the later watchkeepers. Aside from that it was seven-bell breakfast for the 8-12 watch and seven-bell lunch for the 12-4.
But who remembers their apprentice days and being sent to the stores for a long wait and a bucket of steam……..?
Happy days…….

[Mike R868356]

On passenger ships a black pan was the night cooks offering when returning to ship from shore tended to be a breakfast type meal although once I ended up with a 1.5lb rump steak. Night cooks also had a small gang, and were responsible for galley cleaning.

[Peter Thomson]

Yer memory slipping a bit there Des, unless you've mistyped

A dogsleg is an angled brush either round or flat

a Fitch is a small flat brush with sloping bristles, normally used for decorative work, plus plimsolls and draught mark edges if you had a pernickety mate.

The other name for a 'dogsleg' was a 'striker'.

[j.sabourn]

Just caught the end of this post , but believe similar has been before. If not already mentioned didn’t a Gazinta enter the ratings ? JS

[happy daze john in oz]

A Gazinta not to be confused with a Guzunda.
A Guzunda Gazinta the space under the bed and must be cleaned out each morning.

[Ivan Cloherty]

The other name for a 'dogsleg' was a 'striker'.

When I was at sea a 'striker' was a long bamboo pole (usually about 12ft long) to which you attached a roller or brush when painting the hull from the quay or pontoon. I used to use a 15ft striker for painting the side of my house when I lived in Sussex, much to the amusement of my neighbours, but they were only jealous!


For shore people a dogs-leg is akin a radiator paint brush

[Johnny Kieran]

This "Dogs Leg" thing was always referred to as a "Dogs Cock" from what I remember, and I never heard it called anything else on any ships.

[Ivan Cloherty]

This "Dogs Leg" thing was always referred to as a "Dogs Cock" from what I remember, and I never heard it called anything else on any ships.

A 'dog's cock' was a back splice in a rope