Rabbits,now thats a good old Navy/Bootneck terminolgy,and the term is still in use today and for all you non nautical types,The meaning.
For the unofficial definnition of this nautical animal is 'anything made on board ship from Service stores (Proffers) with the object of taking it ashore for one's own use.The term originated in Chatham (The Grand Division) in the days when St Mary's Island now part of the Naval Dockyard The Island was inhabited by large colonies of Rabbits and since the island was Admiralty property the removal of any rabbit was regarded as poaching and Jack and Royal was fond of rabbit pie,and numbers of rabbits concealed in kitbags and other forms of luggage used to find their way out of the dockyard,Hence the warning cry still heard today when a Sailor or Marine is going on leave with a bulging suitcase of,'Tuck its ears in!'.Aye JR
Who needs the World as your Oyster,When you've had the world as your cap Badge
Nice one JR.Wenever we used to go ashore
in any foreign place to buy things to take home
as presents these were called Rabbits.
Good to hear the true meaning.
Aye Sunman .
Yep Frank,Ive seen some great 'Rabbits' purloined from various sources in those days it was a case of Adapt and Improvise.Going back to the 50s and even earlier various items of Service stores were purloined from the 'Pongos' from Armoured vehicles to extra weapons,even 45 nicked a Donkey from some Arab in Tripoli and carted it back to Malta under the assumed name of Sub/Lt Ernest,even the latest trophy obtained by 40 just go's to show Royal is still good at the game of adapt and improvise.And no doubt many on this forum can come up with some great 'Rabbit Dits'.Aye JR
Who needs the World as your Oyster,When you've had the world as your cap Badge
Best bit of kit Proffed: USMC DPM poncho liner. Light as a feather but a cracking good bit of kit in warmer climes. Pussers slugs are OK in Norge or the UK in winter. But in the summer I used to hate feeling sweaty and Manky after a kip in one.
Rabbit jobs: Pompey dockyard printers office did more Rabbit jobs than soft Mick. Anytime a bored senior Naval Officer got the urge to inspect the office all Machines/Marines were checked to see that they were doing "proper" work before SNO got near the office. The Pompey field gun crew were always wanting "little favours" They were a good source of "Tiger Beer" As were most of the CPO/PO messes in the fleet.
Best known Proff I ever heard of: A Certain SQMS virtually built and entire Vauxhall Cavalier from indenting for spare parts every few days. Only problem was that not one bit was the same colour. So he Proffed/indented a compressor and a paint gun as well. (if your going to kick the sh*t out of the system do it big time)
Artist wrote:Best known Proff I ever heard of: A Certain SQMS virtually built and entire Vauxhall Cavalier from indenting for spare parts every few days. Only problem was that not one bit was the same colour. So he Proffed/indented a compressor and a paint gun as well. (if your going to kick the sh*t out of the system do it big time)
Artist
His name isn't Radar O'Riley by any chance?
The latest and greatest is the new Buccaneer
All full of black boxes and Scimitar gear
But don't worry Kruschev, you're safe 'till the days
The F*****g great bastard is fitted with Speys!
I cannot name anyone as Pusser may be eavedropping in an attempt to get back the Millions of quids worth of kit that has/is still dissapearing via the Senior Service/Royal Marines.
Captain to Jimmy the one: "Where the bloody hell is the Admirals barge?!"
One captain was most annoyed when he dicovered that his baths plug had been superglued to the plughole on Appolo. (your secret is safe with me Bungy) A reverse Proff by a hacked off Naval Steward.
Pusser needed a new Aircraft Carrier and reckoned a good way of being able to afford the said Carrier was to disband the branch in 1990. Ungrateful Bast**ds!
Mike wrote:RABBITS & RABBIT RUN = Rabbits are the traditional name for foreign keep sakes or presents for the family back home and the Rabbit Run is the shore leave specifically for this process. Rabbits can be any type of ornament or object, we had one lad who brought on board an eight foot Elephant for his mum, storing it on board was no problem, I only wish I had seen him boarding the train with it when he went home!
Also had a lad on the Tartar who Brought his wife home a dose of Syph................ohooooooooooooooooo... nasty
The Honourable Lord Mike of Loch Borralan
.........................Because I AM Worth IT..xxxx.......Never Mistake Motion for Action
Once again no names no pack drill. Anyway there was never any Bootie printers on Whale Island. (unless he had left the mob and worked there as a civvy printer, no names no packdrill, thinks.... Yes!! There was an ex Bootie printer based their (civil service) buggered if I can remember his name!)
Just to put the record straight. My last 4 years in the mob was as a Printer. Medically down Graded P2 Mod Commando. (I was kin rubbish, really rubbish) but back in the past whilst serving on Fearless I had applied to do the course. (1978, they never ever kin forget!!!)
Personally I wanted to be a "Born again Christian, with attidude" but, all the Sky Pilots had got the jobs. (Harry just open yer heart to GOD and stand by for the incoming!!!! COFF. Can I watch when the big one in the sky burns yer bum? O yes please. Give me laugh anyway. Sig hating begger that you are)
Rabbits,now thats a good old Navy/Bootneck terminolgy,and the term is still in use today and for all you non nautical types,The meaning.
.
