The ode of the midnight skulker
Bruce Chr. Johnson (commodore@seascout.org)
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 21:05:49 -0500
Original-From: "CDR John R. Erickson USCG" <pawpaw01@bellsouth.net>
Original-Reply-To: seascout-net@mail.sea.scouter.com
Original-Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 21:28:14 -0600
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes-and ships-and sealing wax-
Of cabbages- and kings-
And why the sea is boiling hot-
And whether pigs have wings."
And so Lewis Carroll catapults us into yet another right brain sea scout
challenge for the entertainment of all concerned. (left brains can enter
too, no handicap given) What is this you say? Why its the annual attempt
by me( the phantom of the south Louisiana swamp) to trick unsuspecting, yet
blithely intelligent sea scouts into committing "verbicide". It is...
(trumpet fanfare)... a challenge to write the mid watch log of your ship on
1 January 1999 in verse! I know , I know, you young tads think I shipped
out without a full sea bag-- but how to do this; that is the question, is
it not! "It is quite simple," says Alfonse my faithful alligator
companion. "First you think about it, then you prose it and from thereon
it is quite simple, you simply versify it" There you have it.
The rules:
You may have your ship moored, underway or at anchor. If moored you must
include which side, Example " Moored pier 4 at Sea base 5, all lines out on
our starboard side," there, easy see. What's all that clucking? Do I see
chicken feathers filling cyber space. You must also include the weather,
which watch is on duty, what lights are burning, any unusual conditions
around the ship,( ah! creativity, where is thy sting) your mournful
condition missing all the New Years fun, and who wrote this thing anyway,
etc. Moored of course is the cowards way out, but maybe not!
You may have your ship anchored.
Include: where anchored, which anchor, how much cable, depth of the water,
what kind of bottom, sea conditions, weather, visibility, engines on
standby, generators on line (or batteries), which section has the watch
(Port/ Stbd), boats in the water on which boat boom, be creative, you get
the picture, sign your name! You may have your ship underway with "Iron
Jenny", sail or both.
Include: Location, course, speed, sails set, how sailing, (tack, run,
reach, whatever) engines on the line, batteries, generator, lights that are
burning, section on watch, weather, visibility, sea conditions and who
wrote this thing. Oh! using the words "nice" or "bad" for weather
conditions is a "no no". We need barometer, wind vector, cloud cover,
precip, you know all the good nautical weather stuff you never learned.
Well, there you have it, be creative, remember YOU wanted to join Sea Scouts!
A playful Sea Gull told me that somewhere in the frozen North East there
lies a prize for the most successful verse. All we need now are some
impartial judges and an entry or two from the land of the Bard himself,
Hail Britannia!! and of course we should not forget to invite any and
all around the globe including Crocodile Dundee's bros from down under,
right mate!
All entries must be submitted to the judges (if we find some) no later that
high noon on the 15th of January 1999. All entries become the property of
Commodore Bruce Johnson who promises to post all of them in the entryway of
the Library of Congress. (just kidding) Why do we do this? It builds
character and everyone LOVES a challenge!
Who should do it? Someone who missed the last meeting (he/she won't miss
another one).
And so to convince you all that I truly am two hot-dogs and jar of mustard
short of a complete picnic, I leave you with this test of pollywog
intelligence.
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!
YISS...The Satanic Skipper of Ship1, deep in the Louisiana Swamp
