Humor-Fact-Sea Story

THE SEABAG........

There was a time when everything you owned had to fit in your seabag.
Remember those nasty rascals? Fully packed, one of the suckers
weighed more than the poor devil hauling it.

The damn things weighed a ton and some idiot with an off-center
sense of humor sewed a carry handle on it to help you haul it.
Hell, you could bolt a handle on a Greyhound bus but it wouldn't
make the damn thing portable.

The Army, Marines and Air Force got footlockers and we got a big
ole' canvas bag.

After you warped your spine jackassing the goofy thing through a bus
or train station, sat on it waiting for connecting transportation and
made folks mad because it was too damn big to fit in any overhead
rack on any bus, train and airplane ever made, the contents looked
like hell. All your gear appeared to have come from bums who slept
on park benches.

Traveling with a seabag was something left over from the "Yo-ho-ho
and a bottle of rum" sailing ship days. Sailors used to sleep in hammocks.
So you stowed your issue in a big canvas bag and lashed your hammock
to it , hoisted it on your shoulder and in effect moved your entire
home and complete inventory of earthly possessions from ship to ship.
I wouldn't say you traveled light because with one strap it was a
one-shoulder load that could torque your skeletal frame and bust
your ankles. It was like hauling a dead linebacker.

They wasted a lot of time in boot camp telling you how to pack one
of the suckers. There was an officially sanctioned method of
organization that you forgot after ten minutes on the other side of
the gate at Great Lakes or San Diego.
You got rid of a lot of issue gear when you went to the SHIP.. Did
you ever know a tin-can sailor who had a raincoat?
A flat hat? One of those nut hugger knit swimsuits?
How bout those roll your own neckerchiefs...
The ones the girls in a good Naval tailor shop would cut down and sew
into a 'greasy snake' for two bucks?

Within six months, every fleet sailor was down to one set of dress
blues, port and starboard undress blues and whites, a couple of
whitehats, boots, shoes, assorted skivvies a peacoat and three
sets of bleeched out dungarees.
The rest of your original issue was either in the pea coat locker,
lucky bag or had been reduced to wipe down rags in the engineroom.
Underway ships were not ships that allowed vast accumulation of
private gear.

Hobos who lived in discarded refrigerator crates could amass greater
loads of pack rat crap than fleetsailors. The confines of a canvas back
rack, side locker and a couple of bunk bags did not allow one to
live a Donald Trump existence.
Space and the going pay scale combined to make us envy
the lifestyle of a mud hut Ethiopian.
We were the global equivalents of nomadic Monguls without ponies
to haul our stuff.

And after the rigid routine of boot camp we learned the skill of
random compression packing...
Known by mother's world-wide as 'cramming'. It is amazing what
you can jam into a space no bigger than a breadbox if you pull a
watch cap over a boot and push it in with your foot. Of course it
looks kinda weird when you pull it out but they never hold fashion
shows at sea and wrinkles added character to a salty appearance.
There was a four-hundred mile gap between the images on recruiting
posters and the actual appearance of sailors at sea.
It was not without justifiable reason that we were called the tin-can
Navy.

We operated on the premise that if 'Cleanliness was next to
Godliness', we must be next to the other end of that spectrum...
We looked like our clothing had been pressed with a waffle iron and
packed by a bulldozer.

But what in the hell did they expect from a bunch of jerks that lived
in the crews hole of a 2100 Fletcher Class can.
After a while you got used to it... You got used to everything
you owned picking up and retraining that distinctive aroma...
You got used to old ladies on busses taking a couple of wrinkled
nose sniffs of your peacoat then getting up and finding another seat...

Do they still issue seabags? Can you still make five bucks
sitting up half the night drawing a ships picture on the side of one
of the damn things with black and white marking pens that drive old
master-at-arms into a 'rig for heart attack' frenzy? Make their faces red... The
veins on their neck bulge out...
And yell,"Jeezus H. Christ! What in god's name is that all over your
seabag?" "Artwork, Chief... It's like the work of Michelangelo...
My ship... Great huh?" "Looks like some damn comic book..."

Here was a man with cobras tattooed on his arms... A skull with a
dagger through one eye and a ribbon reading 'DEATH BEFORE
SHORE DUTY' on his shoulder...
Crossed anchors with 'Subic Bay 1945' on the other shoulder...
An eagle on his chest and a full blown Chinese dragon peeking out
between the cheeks of his butt.
If anyone was an authority on stuff that looked like a comic book,
it had to be this E-7 sucker.

Sometimes I look at all the crap stacked in my garage, close my
eyes and smile, remembering a time when everything I owned could
be crammed into a canvas bag.
Maturity is hell.

Author unknown.

Thanks for the flashback Boats. Now I'm going to have nightmares for the next couple weeks.

Just got a knot in my back, from remembering sleeping on that thick mattress , with your seabag stowed under it.

Your right about the smells, the old ships did have a destinct aroma about them.

Wish the hell I still had mine. My mother (rest her soul)threw mine away shortly after I got out in 64.

If it wasn't for my ability to occasionaly get on a ship in salt water I'de give it up. Get withdrawal symptoms if I'me away to long. The smell of oil, paint and salt water is home.

As for the seabag, mine gave it up to the ravages of carrying duck decoys. Still have one though. It was a gift from another guy who didn't feel quite the same way about his Navy time as I did.

quote:

Just got a knot in my back, from remembering sleeping on that thick mattress , with your seabag stowed under it.

Just lay down to sick bay and get an "APC" from ole Doc, it will cure ALL your ails.

AYE APC's and G.I Gin. they will either cure ya or kill ya.

Boy did you bring back memories. I still have my seabag with all the ports of call scribbled on the side. I can remember jamming all my gear in that thing and could probably do so today if everything hadn't disappeared or been disposed of. I still remember sleeping on those canvas racks with dressed blues stuck under to keep pressed for inspection as well as the dress shoes for inspection wrapped in socks never to see the light of liberty. thanks for the rememories.

Kerry Cripe SFM3 USS Berkeley DDG15 (now Razor Blades)

Great Story..Thanks for the ride down Memory Lane...USN 1970-90

sheesh, I've been out 20+ years and I still own 2 of em. I always travel with one because they'll fit in a bus hold with ease, and they x-ray easily so the airlines don't need to open em up, and who needs a luggage claim tag on em when your name is stenciled on em in ink that'll outlast the bag itself.

Everyone should have one !

hi
I always had a fondess for my "bag"
I grew up a backpacker and always hated the fact I could,nt put a frame on it.
In A school the smartest thing I did was had a blue nylon bottom and blue padded straps put on it
because I could spot it first at airport carosuel.lol.
I had access to "riggers"(?) and traded favors to get a leather bottom and a full length flight suit zipper put down the side of it also padded straps, could have sold a 100 of them.
Funny one I was discharged at sea and am a packrat and had 2 bags that I payed a guy in ships laundry to press ALL of the contents of these bags I spent many hrs packing bags just so it would all fit, they weighed "a ton"
I was flown to diego garcia where I went through the british entry and they very quickly
tore apart every single item in those bags I mean made a huge pile of it all.......fast forward 2hrs later they gave me to the navy side and they told me to get those piles packed up and took me to a barracks , I never even came close to geting all that back in the bags and traded a lot of it to sea bees for beer they had stashed. I taught a lot of guys to scotch gaurd the outside of theirs to keep stuff dry and clean. Rick

Just watch some 1940 type movie and see the white hat hero carry one full sea bag with the mattress wrapped in the hammoch looped over the top. James Cagney carried it like it was empty and you knew it should weigh as much as him. My part issue was 80 lbs going flying to FSS Kew West Fl in 54
Former SO3

I got out of the Navy in July of 1969. I still have my seabag. I had to have a 10 inch rip in it sewed up by the pararigger just before I got out. Yep, they have a distinct smell to them. Must have been when it was laying around in P.I.

.

OK, here is a true test of who has been around a while and who hasn't. How many of you were ISSUED white seabags? Having acquired one after having been issued a green one does not count.

quote:

Yep, they have a distinct smell to them. Must have been when it was laying around in P.I.

WHAT..are you saying Subic Bay smelled? Surely not! Ahh.. that fresh air smell when crossing the bridge. I thought the light bulbs in the bottom of the lockers to keep things from mildewing was a nice touch.

Speaking of PI smells, remember the dungarees when you got sweaty, and the smoke smell? Seems the barracks boys took them them to be washed and dried/starched, and cooked over a smoky fire.

Outstanding story. Fully packed my seabag did almost weigh more than my skinny corpsman a** back then. Me weighing only 120 lbs. But I've gained a few ounces since then tipping the scales now at a 150 lbs. Looking back I guess it was a good way to carry your stuff. But at the end of those long flights across the Pacific, remember how tired you were at the end of those? I could have easily abandoned it. LOL!

Excellent story.

Still have one stowed with most of my old service and working uniforms in the attic. Used to come in handy hauling gear for kids soccer games.

Pity they're made out of nylon now instead of canvas.

quote:

Originally posted by whalersailor:
OK, here is a true test of who has been around a while and who hasn't. How many of you were ISSUED white seabags? Having acquired one after having been issued a green one does not count.

I was issued a white seabag at NTC San Diego in June of 1947. Also learned to roll all my clothes and secure them with clothes stops using a square knot.

I made up "white bags" for BM's and others who asked while in the Bo'sun's locker on the Grand Canyon in '68-'69. We had an unlimited amount of #8, strapping and grommets and it was a regular little industry. I still have two myself and when I was aboard the USS Zuni (ATF 95) last year for a weekend, I showed up with my clothing, coat, sleeping bag and knotting display stuff all pcked into the seabag, came across the brow and completely amazed Senior Chief Harry Jaeger (ret)... he said I looked like I was reporting aboard for duty instead of just visiting. Now if only I'd have thought to make up a hammock, he'd have gone totally asiatic!

Still got what's left of mine in the back of the closet. I guess I'll drag it out later to savor that 'old bag' smell!

All this jabber about seabags.... here's one from the Naval Museum that was done by a sailor on the 1850's while aboard the USS Constitution.

Check out the lanyard on this baby as well as all the stitching! Sheesh!