On ships where did the term “Head” come from.
AKA the poop deck.
Back in the age of sail, the crappers were up at the bow- the head of the ship, so to speak, hence the term “head”. Or it might have to do with the figurehead being up there- I’m not sure.
Anyway, they’d put them up there because they were more or less downwind of the rest of the ship.
I’m not a sailor, but unless you are sailing backwards, it sounds like the front (bow) would be UPwind of the rest of the ship.
If you’re at sail, the wind is at your back (more or less), blowing from the stern of the ship towards the bow. So, the bow of the ship would, indeed, be downwind from the rest of the ship.
While we’re talking naval oddities, I thought it strange that there were boatswains mates and pharmacists mates, but I never met that one guy the boatswain or the pharmacist. Especially since there was a the coxswain, who operated the whale boat and captain’s gig after they were lifted off the ship and into the sea. Nice for him, could go around saying “Oh yes, I am the coxsuw-ain!”
I bow to your explanation. But I’m staying downwind from you, just in case.
I will 2nd what **Kenobi **said. The seats of ease were on the bow of the ship. If you ever see the movie Master and Commander there is a sweeping shot of the ship as it enters the frame, I noticed on one of multiple viewings that there is a man sitting there with his pants around his ankles. Blends in and is hard to see, but a nice touch of realism.
When I was onboard the USS John F. Kennedy in 1993 or 1994 for NYC Fleet Week, we had a major CHT malfunction. Because we were in New York Harbor we couldn’t discharge CHT directly overboard. (I don’t know if anyone would have noticed if we did.) We had a barge come alongside to take on the CHT. They hooked up the barge, but when they opened the valves there was a back pressure from the barge back into the ship. Every toilet and shower and sink on that massive floating city exploded with shit. We had about 10,000 visitors lined up to come onboard, as well as all of ship’s company and a skeleton crew from the air wing, and no usable heads. The ship probably still smelled of shit when they scrapped her a couple of years ago…
Ever get JP5 in the soda machines?
The boatswain (bos’n) Is the Deck Department Head. The pharmacist would have been the officer in charge of the dispensary (but that rate doesn’t exist anymore). Gunner’s Mates work for the Gunner, also known as the Weapons Department Head. I was an Aviation Maintenance Administrationman. Talk about a made up word!
Three, actually.
One of the more appropriate moments for a nitpick. Thanks for correcting this.
For the record, David Simmons, Padeye, and danceswithcats are all deceased, so tonyfop probably won’t get an answer about the JP5 soda machines.
Heh. No. In Latin, puppis was the word for the stern deck of a ship long before it was a homonym for toilet functions. 
How about salt in the coffee, drinking water, cool aid, lemonade