1. Never tried it, but heard that you can throw the ground coffee in the pan of hot water, and when done brewing, break in an egg and it will cook to capture the grounds at the bottom, so you don't have to drink it through your teeth.
2. In the mess decks, I'd see a couple of egg shells with the grounds in the basket at the top of the coffee urn. That puzzled me, and even in the context of 1., I don't see why, unless they had cracked the egg into the urn, which you shouldn't need to do if there's a basket on the percolator. Any ideas on that? Maybe because there were no filters for the basket?