Word: patch
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...terms of the gamble had long been set by law and custom: no seals, no pay. The risk is great. The rafting ice might shear off a rudder or propeller, or jam the ship so long it would miss the main patch of seals. But the adventure still thrills the hardy Newfoundland fishermen...
Once in the patch, the slaughter begins. A sharp blow on the nose with the gaff kills the seal, a few deft strokes of the knife and the pelt is sculped off. All day long the killing goes on; the ice runs red with blood. At night the crewmen trudge back to cramped quarters aboard ship for a meal of seals' flippers, a mug of black tea. Then a night's sleep, fully clothed, a breakfast of "fish and brewis" (boiled hardtack), and off on the ice again. In a good day a sealer can sculp 120 seals...
That settled it. For the sake of proctors' dignity, there had to be a way to distinguish G.I.s studying at Bull College, Cambridge, from mere G.I. sightseers. Soon the Bull boys were wearing a special patch on their lower right sleeves-a coat of arms featuring the Stars & Stripes, the Union Jack, the Cambridge Lions, the American Eagle and the Bull of Bull College. Master Sergeant Al Kohler, an inveterate doodler, hit on the design...
...closest thing to Hell on earth last week was in the midst of the sea-a tortured little patch of dismal grey rock some 235 miles south of Tokyo. For at least four weeks-since it was first sighted by the crew of a British destroyer-the islet, a product of submarine volcanic eruption, has been boiling the sea into clouds of sulphurous steam, belching great blasts of smoke and roiling the muddy bottom for miles around...
...Work. Already 50 workmen had been hired to repair outlet valves on the 684-ft.-wide dam, patch up the ancient bunkhouses, put the powerhouse in operation, recap and creosote the dock pilings. Topflight Swedish engineers had been asked for estimates on electric furnaces and other key installations. To get things ready, between $500,000 and $1,000,000 would be spent...