The Importance of Sea Stories

When sailors have free time, which is regularly under some circumstances and rarely under others, they can be heard doing what fishermen call “talk­ing about the one that got away,” what woodsmen call “telling tall tales,” what men in the barber shops of my youth called “swapping lies” and what sailors call “telling sea stories.”

Sea stories are told wherever and whenever sailors get together – in the mess decks, on the fantail, in work spaces, on the quarterdeck, during general quarters and before, during, and after working hours. They make their way into almost every conversation, some­times at the initiative of the teller and sometimes in response to a question from a listener. They are always relevant to the topic of discussion, even when they serve to redirect that discussion.

On occasion, sea stories are mostly fact; at other times, they are mostly fantasy. They are remembrances of the past – recollections of the way things were. Sometimes, they are reconstructions of the way things should have been.

Sea stories are part of the mythology of life at sea; they give meaning to an otherwise mundane existence and they sometimes bring hope to an otherwise bleak existence. But, for the most part, they serve simply to liven up what would otherwise be an unbearably dull day at sea.

For those who hear them, sea stories mirror the mind and soul; they reflect the way the storyteller’s head works and where his heart is. For those who tell them, sea stories are paint, canvas and brushes; tools with which they paint public pictures – and with which their listeners paint private ones.

For almost 20 years, telling and listening to sea stories was for me an important means of understanding the nature of men, espe­cially sailors – the men who go down to the sea in ships.

In this blog you will find a collection of sea stories from my 20 years in the United States Navy. Some are quite short, others quite long; a few are liberally laced with profanity but most are not.

If I have a regret, it is that you and I can’t sit down so I could tell you these stories face to face. Myths, after all, are made stronger when they're passed along from generation to generation by word of mouth.

Finally, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

Fred W. “Nick” Nickols, FTGC, USN (Ret.)