...only to clarify: it was the First Mate who was 'getting away' and working in a Mexican rope factory. One day, when it ignited in flames, he decided to run back in to retrieve his two sardine sandwiches in a lunchbag and discovered an alternative value for processed hemp. That was the origin of the 497 and a 1/2 feet of rope. It was the First Mate who offers the Captain a toke one night at sea and the result is.. 'history', or at least legend.
I always thought that Brockett used the 'U.S.S.' prefix to divorce the song from any semblance of fact; an overt bit of poetic license, just in case.
The record got ALOT of airplay in the late 1960's on WTLB from Utica, New York (that's upstate, in the Mohawk Valley). For many it was a theme song because it reveled openly about the nature of indulging the 'evil weed'(and we were rebelling against just about everything). It's a great piece of bawdy, troubador musicianship; examples of which are too few and far between. Thanks for the stump; bless your heart and soul, Jaime!