Where does the saying swinging the lead come from?

Answer 1

This is a naval term. Before the days of echo sounders and many inlets and rivers had uncharted water, a knotted line was used to test the depth. This was weighted with lead which had wax on the base to check what the sea floor consisted of. The sailor doing the checking would throw, or 'swing the lead' outwards and allow it to sink to the bottom, counting the knots as it was hauled back aboard to ascertain the depth. As the job was not very work intensive and fairly restful, it was considered an easy task. Swinging the lead became know as an easy task and then to refer to someone who did not work very hard.

The lead swinger would call out the depth to the officer of the watch by counting the number of knots in the line. The knots were a fathom (6 feet) apart. The call would be "By the mark four"or similar. This also where Samuel Clemens derived the name Mark Twain. The call being "By the mark, twain." (Two) It is true, it is a naval term but over the years the meaning has been slightly corrupted. It actually refers to the whereabouts of someone who is missing but it is known by others where that the person is. In the 17th and 18th centuries the ships of the line of the Royal Navy were designed with a bulbous hull. To measure the sea depth a line was dropped over the side of the ship weighted with lead. To achieve this a sailor had to climb over the side of the ship and stand on a wooden beam forming part of the hull thus missing the protruding sides. This sailor was now out of sight. "Man overboard" was a common occurrence in those early days. It was one of the junior officers tasks to keep account of all those on deck. If a sailor was not seen for some time the question (example) would be asked "Where is able seaman Jones?" and the answer being "He is swinging the lead sir!".