Betwixt The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Or-Learning to roll with the punches

Aug 17, 2023

I often wonder about the origins of sayings.

At present, as I sit in my hotel room looking out over a water-logged Tumon Bay, Guam, I have been contemplating this week’s title. I feel confident that most of you have heard the saying at one time or another (perhaps with ‘between’ in lieu of ‘betwixt,’ but I’m trying to bring betwixt back). You probably understand it to mean being stuck, helpless between two bad choices. But the way I have been looking at it, at present, the devil betwixt me and the deep blue sea is the weather.

Not that I am complaining too much mind you. I have had the amazing opportunity to spend the past two weeks working with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center and NOAA divers (and my buddy Worth) on a mission to locate and catalog artifacts from WWII.

We have had a few great days of diving, but the weather pattern shown below brought with it a heavy underwater surge which has greatly reduced visibility and made diving near rocks and coral reefs hazardous.

Because we haven’t been able to dive we have been conducting a beach survey along Asan Beach, one of the invasion beaches where the 3rd Marine Division landed 79 years ago in the opening days of Operation Forager.

Over the past few days, I have been stumbling across the same reef that those Marines fought against to make their way to shore under fire from the Japanese 320th Independent Infantry Battalion.

To survey the beach, we are conducting a grid search using a line with one of us stationed every five meters. As we walk in the ankle to waist-deep water, we look for metal objects, often heavily covered in coral concretion. Each found item is documented, precisely located with GPS, and photographed.

While it is cool to be ‘doing science,’ walking the razor-sharp coral and volcanic rock for hours in dive booties is painful. I’ve switched to water shoes, which are better, but I have numerous cuts and abrasions on my feet and legs. I catch myself thinking of the many places I would rather be.

Then I think of the Marines wading ashore under withering machine gun and artillery fire; caught precisely betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea, and it helps put things in perspective.

Back at the hotel after applying Neosporin to my cuts, I researched the term and realized that it has nautical origins. The devil was the name of the plank just below the deck line. All planks had to be periodically re-caulked using cotton cloth or hemp soaked in pine tar which was driven into the seam using a caulking chisel and hammer. Once caulked, the seam would be covered with hot pitch. To re-caulk the seams, the sailor would be suspended betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea.

The term was first documented in writing in 1637 in Robert Monro's His expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-keyes, 1637:

"I, with my partie, did lie on our poste, as betwixt the devill and the deep sea."

So it turns out the term is less of an admission of hopelessness and more of a statement of position at a particular time. While I’m sure caulking seams wasn’t a favorite activity of the ship’s crew, it was necessary to keep the ship afloat.

While I would rather be underwater than trudging through the coral reef, it is necessary. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

If you find yourself betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea, learn to enjoy the view, and as Jimmy Buffett admonishes us to do in his classic Cowboy in the Jungle, learn to roll with the punches.

“We gotta roll with the punches, learn to play all of our hunches. Make the best of whatever comes your way. Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition. Plowin' straight ahead, come what may.”

Refer a friend

This weekend try to use betwixt in conversation and let me know how it goes. Next week I’ll be back on the mainland.

Read. Between the Devil and the Deep

By Mark Cowan and Martin Robson

Full disclosure, I have not read this book, but it comes highly recommended. I have ordered it and expect it to be waiting when I get home from Guam.

Write.

Worth and I flying the TFD flag over a pile of UXO.

I wanted to make another pitch for Task Force Dagger. They are a great organization and are worthy of your charitable dollars. You can donate here:

https://www.taskforcedagger.org/

From the website:

Task Force Dagger Special Operations Foundation provides assistance to wounded, ill, or injured US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) members and their families. We respond to urgent needs, conduct Rehabilitative Adaptive Events (RAE), and provide next-generation health solutions for issues facing our service members.

As a veteran-operated nonprofit, we understand the needs and experiences of the Special Operations Forces community. Each program is designed to heal, rebuild and strengthen the service member and their family by providing mission, purpose, and focus.

Operation Forager II is being brought to you by:

Refer a friend

Repeat.

More words of wisdom from Mr. Jimmy Buffett:

“People who think too much before they act don’t act too much.” – Jimmy Buffett

“Where it all ends, I can’t fathom, my friends. If I knew I might drop my anchor.” – Jimmy Buffett

“If it doesn’t work out there will be never be any doubt that the pleasure was worth all the pain.” – Jimmy Buffett

“We got to roll with the punches, play all our hunches, make the best of whatever comes your way.” – Jimmy Buffett

Thanks for reading Think. Read. Write. Repeat. See you next Thursday!