Powder Monkey is a British naval term for young men who assisted gun crews. These boys, usually no older than 12-13 years, were forced to perform the most dangerous work on a ship. They were treated harshly, rarely paid, and expendable. Powder Monkeys had little hope of promotion and were often deserting.
Contrary to Booger’s opinion of the boat, the little shit has actually shown a lot of enthusiasm for it. He’s already asked if he can paint the name of the boat (Yes a name has been chosen) on to the hull when it’s ready. Far be it for me to quash any enthusiasm for anything other than Roblox and Minecraft, I’m going to embrace any help I can get. Even if it is from the clumsiest most cack-handed kid I know. He’s staying with me this half-term and I’ll be making full use of having a little minion around to help.
I let him know I actually had a few little tasks to carry out on the boat, the enthusiasm was such that I ran him down to the boat this afternoon. His tasks included:
- Identifying 10 screw/bolt holes
- Prepping said holes for fibreglass filler
- Marking out the bevel area for Walkie Talkie
He is now officially part of the Beasty Crew and is the nominated Powder Monkey.
Here he is getting the maths right unlike me the other day.
And here he is prepping his chosen screw/bolt holes.
One thing he was not tasked with was vandalising the boat. Yet here we are: