Caution: Rather disturbing photo in the link below (SFW... but disturbing nonetheless)  

www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/29/navy_officer_kerfuffle/

Gay Naval officer faces keelhauling
Mr Gay UK contender ordered to withdraw

By Lester Haines
Published Thursday 29th September 2005 15:51 GMT

The Navy has threatened to court martial a serving officer who is a finalist in the Mr Gay UK 2005.

Richard Cowell, 25, is weapons engineer on Type-23 frigate HMS Northumberland. He's also Mr Plymouth and in the running for the UK's top gay male accolade - much to the chagrin of the Senior Service.

Cowell has been ordered to withdraw from the contest or face a keelhauling, UK tabloid the Sun reports. The paper has pulled its defence correspondent off Iraq duty to cover this most pressing of issues, apparently without effect because top Navy brass has instructed Cowell not to speak to the press.

His 18-year-old boyfriend Sean Wright, though, is not bound by military law, and declared: "The Navy say they are pro-gay but it seems that's only if you don't act it."

For its part, the Navy says it's not about gayness, stating: "It isn't appropriate for an officer to participate in any competition with a sexual theme."

Ah, that's the old nautical favourite of "find the golden rivet" well and truly consigned to walk the plank, then.

Homosexuality in the armed forces was deemed acceptable back in 2000. Prior to that, it was very seriously frowned upon, despite Winston Churchill's assertion that Britain's entire maritime tradition consisted of "rum, sodomy and the lash".

Cowell, meanwhile, is still a participant in Mr Gay UK 2005 and appears unwilling to quit. The man who wrote the Village People's In the Navy was unavailable for comment as we went to press.

Is this the Village People guy?

Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down, Way ay - blow the man down, O Blow the man down in Liverpool town. Give me some time to blow the man down. As I was walking down Paradise Street, Way ay - blow the man down, A brass-bound policeman I happened to meet. Give me some time to blow the man down. Says he, "You're a Black-Baller by the cut of your hair." "I know you're a Black-Baller by the clothes that you wear." "O Piliceman, O Piliceman, you do me great wrong." "I'm a Flying Fish Sailor just home from Hong Kong." They gave me three months in Walton Gaol, For booting and kicking and blowing him down.

"face a keelhauling..."  

He just might like that ....

Quoted: "face a keelhauling..."   He just might like that ....

With steel hulls and anti-barnacle surface treatments, this doesn't seem to be as much of a punishment anymore, does it?


At least give him a carrier keelhauling....

Which side of the ship was his bunk on?  Was it port?  Or chardonnay?

Submarine keel-haul.  At test depth.  All ahead flank and chop him up in the screw!

YOOOO HOOO!

THHHAILOR Boy!

"rum, sodomy and the lash"......boy the Brits sure do know how to party

Ya know...this is fucking sad.
Open gays cause problems in the military just like women do.
Sex has no place IN the military.

stonerstudent that was too funny!  WTF is a keelhauling?  I've never heard that expression before.

Patty

Quoted: stonerstudent that was too funny!  WTF is a keelhauling?  I've never heard that expression before. Patty

It's a very painful way of cleaning the hull of a ship

Quoted: stonerstudent that was too funny!  WTF is a keelhauling?  I've never heard that expression before. Patty

Kinda like being dragged along a gigantic cheese grater while under water.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelhauling

The sailor was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, dragged under the keel, then up the other side. Alternatively the sailor was dragged from bow to stern. Keelhauling along the length of the hull was generally a death sentence since it could take as long as three minutes, and perhaps longer, to walk the ropes all the way back to the stern, resulting in death by drowning. Often the ropes caught and dragged on barnacles on the ship's hull: the barnacles ripped the victim's clothing and skin to shreds as he was dragged along.

What is Vito's real name???

Quoted: stonerstudent that was too funny!  WTF is a keelhauling?  I've never heard that expression before. Patty

Keelhauling, from Dutch language kielhalen ('to drag along the keel') was a severe form of corporal punishment meted out to sailors at sea.

The sailor was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, dragged under the keel, then up the other side. Alternatively the sailor was dragged from bow to stern.

Keelhauling along the length of the hull was generally a death sentence since it could take as long as three minutes, and perhaps longer, to walk the ropes all the way back to the stern, resulting in death by drowning. Often the ropes caught and dragged on barnacles on the ship's hull: the barnacles ripped the victim's clothing and skin to shreds as he was dragged along.

In most cases, this was not an official punishment but a customary one imposed by the captain. It is alleged that this was common for pirates.

Keelhauling was legally permitted as a punishment in the Dutch Navy. The process used was to draw the offender under the keel from side to side. This was done at a steady pace, fast enough to avoid drowning but slow enough that he was dragged against the hull and severely hurt by the barnacles. The punishment could be repeated several times if the ship's surgeon agreed. The earliest official mention of keelhauling is a Dutch ordinance of 1560: the practice was not formally abolished until 1853.

It was also practiced in the British and French navies until circa 1720 viz. 1750

Common alternative naval corporal punishments included, as in the British Navy, forms of flagellation (by cat o' nine tails, birching), sometimes to death, caning and hanging from a mast. Execution by walking the plank was rare, possibly it's even a mere legend from pirate stories.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelhauling"

Quoted: stonerstudent that was too funny!  WTF is a keelhauling?  I've never heard that expression before. Patty

You become a human brillo-pad.  Soap pad on a rope.

Quoted: What is Vito's real name???

lol!

He's just upholding a fine British naval tradition.

I sure wouldn't want to hot bunk with that guy!

What year is it?  They don't really do that do they?  Patty

Quoted: What year is it?  They don't really do that do they?  Patty

Done before 1800...

Quoted: Quoted: What is Vito's real name??? lol!

Might explain the heart attack.

I thought that openly homosexual conduct was OK'd in the UK  military about 5 years ago.

So what's the UK Navy's problem with this?  

Are they afraid their man isn't cute enough and an RAF gay is gonna win?

hinking.gif

Quoted: I thought that openly homosexual conduct was OK'd in the UK  military about 5 years ago. So what's the UK Navy's problem with this?   Are they afraid their man isn't cute enough and an RAF gay is gonna win?

I imagne that it works the same as having a Hetro servicemen posing for Playboy/Playgirl.......Bad form.

What's your opinions on celibate uber-conservative gays serving in the military?

Quoted: What is Vito's real name???

Andy

TC

Quoted: What's your opinions on celibate uber-conservative gays serving in the military?

You gotta be kidding.

Nobody wants to see them naked.

Quoted: Which side of the ship was his bunk on?  Was it port?  Or chardonnay chandongay?

Fixed it for ya.

Quoted: His 18-year-old boyfriend Sean Wright, though, is not bound by military law, and declared: "The Navy say they are pro-gay but it seems that's only if you don't act it."

Hey, we've got a young Enstein!