Will the Real Sailor Please Stand Up

[29palms]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Great post! Thanks!

What's good about this post is that everyone here in the CF has different experiences and we all consider ourselves sailors. OP certainly has many experiences and a myriad more than I do.

I've been to Baguio and Subic City and Olongapo and when my friend and I had taken the Philippine Rabbit bus up there to stay at the Air Force lodge the rooms were all taken. We sat in the lodge next to a roaring fire and regailed all the AF members and their spouses with sea stories until the wee hours and had a great time. We'd been in many different combat situations, he on a ship and I in country, and were still young enough to remember them clearly. I'd been through a hurricane on a Destroyer (tin can). We also were aboard many different types of ships and my friend had spent some time in the Marines doing fire control (targeting) so he had some stories to tell as well.

I now have 30 years of stories about the Navy and 45 years of stories about sailing.

When I'm gone I would be honored to be remembered as a good sailor.

kind regards,

Very cool response and thank you very much, glad you enjoyed the post. As you can see, I've obviously had some mixed responses here. You must have stayed at Camp John Hay? In Baguio? Interesting to note that all sailors here come from different shipping backgrounds. Motor vessels, sailing vessels, I'm waiting to hear SS or STEAM SHIPS. I did ship on the SS PLESS out of the Persian Gulf after delivering the equipment to Saudi Arabia in 1990. They were the WATERMAN ships of the MSC. Then there are nuclear subs, right down to the canoe paddle. All can claim seamanship in some way.
I was thinking once asking the same question. Whom is the true traveller? I always thought it came down to two classes I have seen all over the world. First, the backpacker. I see them all over the place, and they travel on foot, buses, any which way to get to where they are going. I see them in the mountains, rivers, islands, volcanoes, and far, hard to get to places. They stay in cheap hostels, and usually comes from Europe where they will get dumped off in places like Nicaragua and stay for a month or three.
The other is the MISSIONARIES. I see those guys get way in there in the jungles and live with the natives in name of Jesus. If I were CIA operating in some foreign country, I would get a list of all the missionary personell in those countries, because, they are found all over the place living deep in country and know all about who is who and what is going down with the place.
Then there is the employed airline folks like me that jump on a plane and go to some country, but my days of "roughing it" have taken a back seat, and now I prefer a bit more luxury now that I got my lady with me.
But again, no true answer here. My guess is the best traveller is the one that travels and accomplishes their main objective, whatever that may be. I've known Merchant Seaman that never left the ship in ports, and I've met flight attendants that only see the inside of a hotel or an airport. I've met military that never left base and airline employees that never used their flight priveleges.
So travel is in the heart, the ways you get to your destination is just a tool you use in getting there. I guess the same principal applies to the true mariner. What type of boat, job, mission he is on, he is still at sea and understands the ocean.

[29palms]

Where in Hawaii are you? I have been through Hawaii many times usually on stopovers going or coming from the Pacific. I like Hawaii alot. I was there three years ago on way to Phililppines, wife liked it too. Stayed in the OHANA EAST hotel about a block from Waikiki beach. I was there back in 1997. I won a free night stay there for perfect attendence, and got to fly the new B-757 ferried flight from Honolulu to Guam. I was working in Saipan for an airline. I am going to P.I. maybe in March, or late Feb. Would like to stop in Hawaii again. My ship back in 1988 went by the Big Island and Maui. I got a great view of the volcanoes there. Awesome place.

[deckofficer]

I'd stand but too lazy to get up. What was your ship for the MSC contracts? Container, break bulk, tanker?

Break bulk to Easter Island was off the beaten path, could have been a destination that I would have chosen if I had any say. Cool place and an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle when that program was still running.

[29palms]

Carried military vehicles, weapons, explosives, refrigerated MRE's, Navy Literage. Wouldn't call it a container ship, nor tanker. Supposed to support like 30,000 Marines for 30 days. Google Maritime Prepositioning Force.

[Pelagic]

A sailor (seaman) to me is basically a drifter….. learns a few tricks to control some of the set and rate in his life, bur mostly goes with the flow…..It is a peaceful outlook

[29palms]

I've seen some sinister types and Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde types out at sea. On the other hand, some great people. I guess like anywhere else.

[capttman]

29psalms post trash about solo sailors. Obviously a person of little knowledge. Or maybe too dependent on the "system". Hmmm get an RV

[SimonV]

1. 1. sail·or
      
      /ˈsālər/
      Noun
      
      • A person whose job it is to work as a member of the crew of a commercial or naval ship or boat, esp. one who is below the rank of officer.
      • A person who goes sailing as a sport or recreation.
      
      
      Synonyms
      seaman - mariner - seafarer - navigator - tar - jack
      
   More info - Wikipedia - Dictionary.com - Answers.com - Merriam-Webster

[GrowleyMonster]

A real sailor is someone who goes to sea and KNOWS HOW to depend on someone else, but doesn't HAVE to depend on someone else, and can always be depended upon BY someone else. Sea stories, donkey-shaving, Baguio waterfall sitting, DG Seaman's Club flirting with the cutely smiling but unobtainable barmaids, typhoon riding, Pitcairn Island mail delivering, oakum and pitch caulking, sail sewing, astrolabe navigating, shrimp heading, swordfish wrestling, whale harpooning, shipwreck surviving, alligator circumcising, wrong way solo nonstop circumnavigating in an Optimist dinghy, bordello wrecking, jail breaking in third world countries, native girl harem collecting, tsunami surfing, pirate repelling, are all optional and not necessarily required. <standing matter-of-factly but my feet are tired so I think I will sit at the quiet end of the bar and have another drink>

[David_Old_Jersey]

But probably should have at least one of the items from Growleys' list on their CV........

[Jonathan Reiter]

One of the first jobs I had as a ABS was watchstander aboard the Williams, a P2 MSTS vessel carrying the last 5,000 Marines to Viet Nam in late '66. I was about a year or so out of the 'gator' Navy and wanted to go back to Nam as a civilian to take a look around and try to make some sense out of my experiences there in the U.S.S. Westchester County (LST 1167), which got blown up by a limpet mine about that time.Over twenty lives lost and the compartment I was berthed in destroyed. On the Williams, we visited four ports and I was able to go ashore in all four. On the way back to San Francisco, I told the mate, "When we get back to Frisco, you can pay me off." He looked at me and said,"You're Civil Service now, you idiot. You don't work and they can't fire you." I just smiled and told him that I had seen what I had come to see and that I had a life to live.

[SkiprJohn]

29Palms,
Glad to make your acquaintance.
I live near Hilo on the Big Island. I also have a bit of property up near the Volcano and on a day when the wind is just right we smell the sulphur from the active vent and you can hardly see an eighth of a mile down the road. Luckily that only happens when there is a south wind which is rare. Active vent is about 5 miles from that area as the crow flies.
That was Camp John Hay. I'll always remember that Christmas Eve..
I was on nuclear powered cruisers for over 3 years too and have some stories to tell about taking another fossil fuel cruiser that lost its power in tow and doing well over 20 knots while towing. I was on the USS Long Beach and USS Bainbridge.
I didn't learn to really sail until I was already in the Navy for 9 years and had served aboard 3 Destroyers.
A good sailing story sometimes needs embellishment as is experienced by reading Tristan Jones. I'm practicing embellishment but am not good at it yet.
I have a few. One I don't need to embellish is being a lookout on the bridge wing while in a hurricane and doing 45 degree rolls. I can embellish the excitement I fealt but I expect most sailors will feel it by just hearing that description.
kind regards,

[captain58sailin]

The real sailor is a state of being and mind. It has nothing to do with the length of time at sea. I "sailed" as a 3rd and 2nd mate on one of the last cargo steam ships in the MSC fleet, S.S. Robert E. Lee out of NOLA, she was a lash ship and we made all ports call in the middle east, bringing missiles and food to impoverished nations. We beached her doing 21kts at Alang, India, getting from there to the airport was an adventure all in itself. If I were to tell all the stories I have be it commercial fishing, sailing, tug boating, ship wrangling, there would be plenty here to call BS, even if I told the unvarnished truth. Fact is those are my adventures, and I don't care if anyone else believes them or not. If you work on a vessel because it pays more than slinging hash in a cafe, then you are not a sailor, if you go to the sea for the love of it then you are a sailor, regardless your mode of crossing.

[sailorboy1]

I'm not a sailor, I'm just a guy who sails!

When I was in the Navy the only time I was a sailor was when we pulled into port somewhere and it was required that you wear your uniform in town etc. In which case there would be people going "hey there sailor you want .......".

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

I'm not a sailor, I'm just a guy who sails!

When I was in the Navy the only time I was a sailor was when we pulled into port somewhere and it was required that you wear your uniform in town etc. In which case there would be people going "hey there sailor you want .......".

So, do you have any good stories involving 5 dollar bills?