I was in Deck Dept. Those guys in the black gang (Hull Dept), are all crazy. We used to call them "snipes".

They were always pale and pimply from spending all their time below, and when on duty, they were always sweaty and covered with grease. Because of the nature of their work around hot greasy machinery, out of sight where most of us couldn't see them, they were allowed to wear dirty and stained clothes, and oily t-shirts. Whenever they did come up on deck they kind of wandered about bumping into things and blinded at the bright lights.

When they did get time off, they were all fresh air fiends, spending hours at the rail in all kinds of weather, chain-smoking and looking at the water. When the ship was attacked by a plague of crab lice after one our trips to the fleshpots of Yokosuka, the guys in M division and their sketchy hygiene practices were the first to be blamed.