They had scuttle-butts. According to Wikipedia:
Water for immediate consumption on a sailing ship was conventionally stored in a scuttled butt: a butt (cask or small barrel) which had been scuttled by making a hole in it so the water could be withdrawn. Since sailors exchanged gossip when they gathered at the scuttlebutt for a drink of water, scuttlebutt became Navy slang for gossip or rumors.
The scuttle-butt on the USS Constitution:
She could carry 48,600 gallons of fresh water, which was primarily used for drinking, and was stored in numerous containers in the hold and dispensed from the scuttlebutt, a large wooden cask laid on its side. The term "scuttle butt" is literally the combination of two words: 'scuttle' meaning hole, and 'butt' meaning a barrel of the 108-140 gallon capacity. Over time scuttlebutt's meaning transformed to rumor or gossip because sailors would congregate around the "scuttlebutt" exchanging the latest rumor. Maintaining tradition on modern Navy ships, water fountains are still called scuttlebutts.
Yeah.. and saying sailers were spending too much time hanging around the butthole might have given the wrong impression...
Posted by: Jake | December 14, 2008 at 11:34 AM
That's why they have all those buttons on their pants.
Posted by: gail | December 14, 2008 at 02:17 PM
...is what my mother told me.
Posted by: gail | December 14, 2008 at 02:21 PM
My poor boys...they ask for a soda after gymnastics and I tell them if they're thirsty, go use the scuttlebutt.
I'm teaching them to cuss like sailors as well.
Posted by: GnomeSelfBeTrue | December 15, 2008 at 08:42 AM