A FEW
DAYS AGO, on March 23, 2014, I wrote a column titled “A lack of sea-going
trucks.”
It was a
response to a query from a reader who wanted to know what a nautical truck
really was. It turned out to be a flat wooden disk atop the mainmast of a
sailing ship. I said that when a warship’s yards were manned, as a salute to a
visiting Lord High Emperor or someone, a sailor was chosen to stand right on
top of the truck. He had to stay there, sometimes for hours, I presume, with
only a thin iron rod inserted into a hole between his feet to steady him.
Another
reader, Dale Stevens, asked if I had an illustration of this feat, and I was
sorry to say that my search of the Internet had revealed nothing, probably
because nobody has stood on a mainmast truck since the Internet was invented.
But I was
wrong (as usual). A reader in the United Kingdom (Welsh Wales actually, if I’m
not mistaken) has put me straight. His first name is Jack and I don’t know his
last name but his boat is called Rhyddid,
which is Welsh for Liberty, and he
has provided a link to a most fascinating video on YouTube. It’s a presentation
of young sailors and marines manning a land-based mast in Britain. And lo! this
mast has a truck, and an iron rod, and a brave young man standing and saluting
right on top of the truck.
I don’t
know if the U.S. Navy does stuff like this now, or if they ever did, but it’s
certainly fascinating to watch the Brits keeping up their old traditions,
including the compulsory tot of rum, which that man richly deserved.
Here is
the link, thanks to Jack. Don’t miss it!
Today’s
Thought
She
comes majestic with her swelling sails,
The
gallant Ship; along her watery way,
Homeward
she drives before the favouring gales;
Now
flirting at their length the streamers play,
And
now they ripple with the ruffling breeze.
— Southey, Sonnets
Tailpiece
They say money can’t buy happiness,
but I bet it’s more comfortable to cry your eyes out in a 40-foot Hinckley than
in a 26-foot McGregor.
You Limeys are crazy.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder that little island once ruled the world.
biglilwave, I would consider this action by the Royal Navy an early form of AIS Ha !
ReplyDeleteAnd it didn't always end well. Check out this link.
ReplyDelete