An "old salt" is an old sailor or mariner who tells

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people w ...

and

sea stories Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...

. Sometimes deemed a sage within their domain, and while sometimes a

raconteur A humorist ( American) or humourist ( British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show busin ...

, much of the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and traditions of mariners are passed from generation to generation as told and retold by old salts. Their factual oral histories and fictional sea stories often intermingle and thus may overall be

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

ful, half-true, or fiction. Each narrative told by an old salt tends to have the aim of enhancing the reputation of the old salt, the old salt's companions, or the old salt's forbearers, although they may also tell instructive tales of tragedy.

United States military title

In the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, the "Old Salt" is a title passed to the longest-serving Surface Warfare Officer on active duty. The award, currently held by Admiral

Christopher W. Grady Christopher Watson Grady (born November 28, 1962) is a United States Navy Admiral (United States), admiral who serves as the 12th vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since December 20, 2021. He most recently served as the commander of Unit ...

, honors the officer with the earliest standing SWO qualification.

List of titleholders

References

Nautical terminology Storytellers {{popular-culture-stub