Something About Sailors

There is a popular belief among shoresiders that all sailors, sexually, are «<fair game». Why I do not know, and I am a sailor. Certainly, when we go into a bar in uniform, there is a much greater interest shown in us, by both men and women, than when we wear ordinary civilian dress. If in civilian dress, once our occupation becomes known, the atmosphere immediately becomes much more. friendly, much more intimate. When I was a soldier, I was less aware of public interest in people in public places, and when I was a civilian, no one ever offered me a bed for the night without preliminaries nearly so many times as they do when I wear my sailor's rig.

Is it the uniform that does it? Lots of people see glamour in a uniform, and collect uniformed personnel as others collect postage stamps. It is not, I think, entirely the uniform, because as I have already said, invitations are freely forthcoming, once people know that a man is a sailor.

Is there a general idea that all sailors are homosexual, or potentially so? Is there a general belief that once they get on the high seas with no women within reach, all sorts of orgies go on, and the homosexual leads a free and completely uninhibited life? No, if such ideas exist, they have no real foundation.

I will admit that a large number of purely homosexual people take up the sea as a career, particularly in the merchant service. It is also true that a great number of seafarers are bisexual. According to Kinsey about 40% of American males are not averse to bisexual practices, and this I think applies also in Great Britain, at sea as well as on shore. The figure at sea may even be a little in excess of this, but I think, not very much. Certainly at sea, there is a much greater tolerance towards homosexuality than there is on land, and when a purely heterosexual sailor knows that someone else is as queer as a coot, he might kid the other along a bit, but in my experience, never maliciously. For example, I have seen a big burly fireman approach a steward, throw his arms around him, and say, in reference to a passing bell boy — «Listen Duchess, next voyage you and me are going to get married, and we'll have the little princess as our daughter». But it did not mean a thing, and it goes on all the time.

Regrettably, the only time when unpleasantness occurs, is when two homosexuals fall out with each other, which they do frequently. If a heterosexual or a bisexual forms an association with a homosexual at sea, it may be purely platonic, and everyone knows about it, but no one ever criticises, at least not publicly. Private life on a ship just does not exist. If the relationship between two people does have an emotional basis, the others generally still maintain a sympathetic understanding. Sailors are good at living, and at letting others live. This, I hasten to add, is the situation as it applies in the merchant service. In the defence navy, where homosexuality is a crime, the individuals may be tolerant, but the law is not.

Life at sea is strange, even unnatural. On shore, a man goes to work by day, his entertainment by night, and when he finally goes home, he closes his door on the outside world. Sailors can't do that. From the day they sail to the day when they return to their home port at the end of a voyage, they live together, and there's no privacy, no escape from one another, and no doors to close. They travel all over the world, and often one or even two whole years pass

one

20