News & Events

Lucky Bag of Books: Add to Your Summer Reading List (And Bonus History Lesson)

Posted: 8/22/2020

Just plucked from the July 2020 edition of Wavetops: an interesting tidbit buried in the sidebar… a book title collection. Looking for reading material? Check out the Lucky Bag of Books, an electronic collection of reading material championed by the Alumni Association and Foundation, with links to purchase (via Amazon). There are over a hundred titles to peruse. Surprisingly, the subject matter varies greatly beyond the expected sea chronicles, histories, and new-era “Clancy-esque” novels. There are children’s titles, as well, and an interesting looking fantasy series by a ’10 grad that harkens back to Carnival Row, a binge-worthy Amazon Prime series that debuted last year (and which I may or may not have watched in a single weekend). Check this collection out if you need more Kindle fodder (and who doesn’t?) or are looking for gifts.

From the Alumni Association: “The Lucky Bag of Books is a varied collection of fiction and non-fiction books, some written by alumni, some are about alumni and subjects of interest including children’s books. When you purchase through the Alumni Association and Foundation partnership with Amazon, they will provide a 4-8% share of your order total to our organization.”

In other book-related news, the Fall 2020 collection being released by the U.S. Naval Institute press is available for pre-order now (view/order here).

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I was intrigued by the reference to a Lucky Bag, so I took a little side trip through the halls and stacks of Wikipedia to dig in a bit more. The 1940 edition of Bluejacket’s Manual reminds us to keep track of our articles, lest they become loose and cause us strife in accountability. [Triggers dim reminders of Plebe Year.] As printed: “The lucky bag is a place where the police petty officers stow for safe-keeping effects that are found adrift about the ship. All clothes, etc., found about the decks are placed in the lucky bag. When clothes are piped down, the police petty officer attends and takes care of all clothes not called for and places these in the lucky bag. All effects in this bag belong to the person who lost them. At frequent intervals the lucky bag is opened and the effects distributed to the owners. Where persons have been guilty of carelessness in leaving their effects adrift, they are placed on the report.” According to the log of the USS Yosemite, on June 24, 1898 several sailors were given 72 hours extra duty for having an article in the lucky bag.

“Every man-of-war, you know, has her Lucky Bag, containing a little of every thing, and something belonging to every body. For variety of contents, a regular Lucky Bag may vie with the caldron that witches boil and bubble “at the pit of Acheron.”                   horse of middy and waister’s sock,
dresses of a cat mouse game
Purser’s slops and topman’s hat,
Boatswain’s call and colt and cat,
Belt that on the berth-deck lay,
In the Lucky Bag find their way;
Gaiter, stock and red pompoon,
Sailor’s pan, his pot and spoon,
Shirt of cook and trowser’s duck,
Kid and can and “doctor’s truck,”
And all that’s lost, and found on board,
In the Lucky Bag is always stored.”

Printed under the column “Scraps from The Lucky Bag,” Southern Literary Messenger Vol. VI No. 4, Richmond, April, 1840

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