1. English sailors on the HMS Dolphin in 1766 discovered that native women on islands would trade sex for iron, and began pulling nails out, causing loss of the ship’s structural integrity.
2. The Eruption of Krakatoa was so loud that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors over 40 miles away, killed over 36 thousand due to the eruptions and subsequent tsunamis.
3. A sailor who wishes to grow a beard in the Royal Navy has to submit a “permission to stop shaving” form. He is then allowed two weeks to “grow a full set” before he presents himself to the Master at Arms who will decide if his beard looks stupid or is respectably full enough to be permitted.
4. Finnish people were believed to be able to control the weather. This resulted in a reluctance to accept Finnish Sailors aboard ships from the Vikings all the way until the 1900s.
5. Sailors considered black cats good luck and would use them as “ship’s cats” in hopes of a safe voyage.
6. The navy is now teaching sailors Celestial Navigation as a response to potential cyber attacks to ship navigation systems.
7. The term “groggy” comes from either the British or American Navy. These sailors drank Grog, which was a mix of rum, water, and citrus juice, which was used to fight scurvy. Someone who is dazed or sleepy might feel as if they have had too much grog, making them “groggy.”
8. When a U.S. Navy ship returns from deployment the first sailors allowed off the ship are sailors whose wives gave birth while they were away.
9. In 2002, while returning to the U.S., the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier stopped in Australia, where the sailors wore out the local sex workers to the point the brothel had to close down temporarily.
10. Fearing rogue Kamikaze attacks, U.S. Navy Admiral Halsey informed his sailors of the end of hostilities in the Pacific with this message: “Cessation of hostilities. War is over. If any Japanese airplanes appear, shoot them down in a friendly way.”