Tom Spence

Sea Stories Tom Spence

Tell it to the Marines In 1664, King Charles II had been told strange stories of fish that could fly. Before dismissing this story, he summoned an officer of the Royal Marines to his court and the officer verified the existence of such creatures. The king then declared that in all such matters, these stories should be told to the Marines as they have surely been everywhere and seen everything. Since that time Marines have heard some tall tales, verified as many as they have dismissed, and told quite a few of their own. When it's a Marine's turn to tell an unusual tale, it's generally called a sea story. Sea stories distinguish themselves from the ordinary yarn by two basic characteristics. First they are told either by a Marine or a Sailor. Second, their veracity is introduced as incontestable by use of a colorful Aristotelian metaphor, with emphasis on the colorful. Sea stories encompass every variety of experience from stories in a combat zone to events in the home, but are usually marked by humor or an unusual insight. The sea story is a right of passage for a Marine. Enlistment, boot camp, and graduation are all significant events for a young man or woman, but these new Marines know they have joined an elite club when they tell their first sea story. Sea stories sometimes contain what euphemistically might be called colorful language. These stories are told in the full spirit of the events described without most of this language but with the full sea-going color you would expect from a Marine. I hope you will enjoy them.