Pig & Whistle

[gray_marian]

Can anyone tell me why in particular the crew bar on ships are called the Pig & Whistle? Thank you

The name “Pig & Whistle” comes from the old English words “Piggin” and “Wassail”. Piggin was a big lead cup, which was used to hold a spiced wine called Wassail. In the winter the wine would be heated and drunk at the local Inn. Gradually the Inn took on the name of this famous wine and the mug it was drunk from, hence the Pig and Whistle.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Always thought it was the Sargeant at Arms !!

[Captain Kong]

Sometimes known as the Swine and Flute.
.
From the Book ,`Mr Merch and Other Stories` by Ken Smith.
Ken ex Seaman, born in Great Mersey Street Liverpool ,suffered very badly from MS and died a couple or so years ago.
His book was on sale at the Maritime Museum in Liverpool. ISBN 0 907768 19 9. It cost £2.95 when I bought it a few
years ago. A donation is made by the Publishers to the MS SOCIETY for every book sold. A Country Publication, Birkenhead,.

The Pig and Whistle,
.
The Pig, The Pig. the jolly old Pig
Where the Stewards have sorrowed and sinned
and none gave a hoot in the old Swine and Flute
when their heads were three sheets to the wind.
.
The Pig served a brew to a thirsty crew
as they sang of `The Brothers Malone`
and they spoke about Kings, and all manner of things
and the beautiful women they`d known.
.
The Pig , the Pig, the jolly old Pig
Where a Sailor sat popping his cork
Where he paid a high price as he threw Crappy Dice
as the ship took a trip to New York.
.
The Pig was a bar in the grand CPR
where the tankards were dripping with foam
and the Pig to some wrecks, with no ar5e in their keks
was a bloody good home from home.
.
The late Ken Smith.
./
.
Cheers, may bring back a few memories.
Brian

The Pig was only on passenger ships for the crews, Sometimes more than one, usually one forard for the Sailors and firemen and one amidships or aft along the working alleyway for the Catering staff. tho` all hands used to mix. Sometimes it was turned into a Casino, Gambling was prohibited by the USA in those days , so passengers couldnt gamble, some including movie stars used to come down to the Pig and try the tables there, Crappy Dicem, R4oulette, Crown and Anchor, Cock and Hen Boards. etc. Poker Schools. etc.
Bob Hope and Burt Lancaster were regular users. they always bought a round for the Sailors.
The Pigs were quite large, usually the full width of the ship and loads of space.
Beers was Wrexham Lager at an Old 8 pennies a pint.
Happy days there.

[gray_marian]

Many thanks Captain, shall try and purchase to add to my small collection.

[robpage]

I thought the Pig had originated on the Transatlantic passenger ships , but certainly l some of the old King Bots had a crew " pig " , and I suspect most of the UK crewed cargo ships with B & C had them if the King Line did .

[Keith at Tregenna]

Can anyone tell me why in particular the crew bar on ships are called the
Pig and Whistle.

Think Marion got it right in post 1. We had a “Pig & Whistle” in our local Butlins.

K.

[happy daze john in oz]

I thought the Pig had originated on the Transatlantic passenger ships , but certainly l some of the old King Bots had a crew " pig " , and I suspect most of the UK crewed cargo ships with B & C had them if the King Line did .

I think the name originated on UCL with some of the Yarpy bloods in the tourist gallop, no offence Vernon, many of whom acted like pigs and as for whistling for attention, they sure could.

[Doc Vernon]

No offence taken John
However i think that was not the way it started! LOL
But as good as it mat get!
Cheers

Some of the so called Yarpies were at times very boistress and a wee bit unmannerly!
I think as I may be classed as a Yarpie in some ways ,born and brought up on a Farm,at least my dear Mother taught us how to behave,and respect others!
Cheers

[Doc Vernon]

Just some info!
Cheers

The term the "Pig 'n' Whistle" is a name associated with a crew recreation space and bar located aboard the RMS Queen Mary while in service. It encompassed a small service bar space that opened onto the broad baggage handling area located at the stern end of original C deck (now named "R" deck). Capture Pig.jpg

[John Arton]

The Empress of Canada had one Bar for all crew members that had at one time been the tween deck of the hold fwd of the bridge. The original crew bar had been just a tiled room with a big fridge in the middle of it, off the working alleyway.
In addition there was an Officers Bar just below the bridge but that only opened at lunch time as it was on the same alleyway as the Captains cabin so no chance of getting any female passengers into it.
Evenings and nights were spent in the Engineers bar aft a deck just above the main lounge deck where you could get into it from either the engineers accommodation or via an staircase leading off from the shopping area. Dead easy to get females into it without been spotted. Fraternising with the passengers was strictly frowned upon and only 1st Officer and 2nd Engineer and above were allowed to be seen talking to passengers in public areas as they had their own tables in first class restaurant. For the rest of us the rule was "if on passenger decks going about our duties and a passenger stopped you to ask a question, you were to reply polity and then move on as soon as possible"
Passengers and females, including crew members, were strictly banned from Officers cabins and as the Captains cabin was at the fwd end of the deck officers alleyway, sneaking a girl into your cabin was fraught with danger. I only got caught once when I was found in our alleyway with one of the female pursers, who was my girlfriend. It was whilst we were tied up over night on the landing stage and her father was captain in Bookers and he had called us up as he was passing us outward bound asking if he could speak to his daughter. I had just got her out of my cabin and on the way up to the bridge when the Old Man came out of his cabin with a thunderous look on his face on spotting me with a female but when I explained I was taking her up to the bridge to speak on the VHF to her father, a fellow Captain, he turned all nice and congratulated me on being such a nice gentleman, little knowing that we had only an hour or so before been engaged in horizontal activity.
Going down "fluff alleyway" at night, where all the female crew lived, you literally took your manhood in your hands as you could be attacked by lusting well built laundry girls, shop assistants etc. who many of whom on seeing a male in the accommodation made no bones about asking you to "come up and see me sometime" as Mae West famously used to say.
Paid off that ship like a skeleton and when I got home my mother actually thought I was seriously ill I was so thin but that was the result of never having had more than around 3 hours kip at any one time plus watch keeping, horizontal gymnastics and the odd drink or two, or three or more. Having 630 female Canadian students out of a total passenger list of around a 1000 on one east bound crossing, can certainly take a lot out of you between Montreal and Liverpool.
rgds
JA