Thanks, gnu, for that link. LOL

And, no, I didn't find the phrase "buying the farm" in WAR BIRDS. But it was fun re-reading that book.

Here's an example of a tall-ship sailor musing about the farm as channeled by John Masefield (italics added):

Hell's Pavement
(Poem by John Masefield, Salt-Water Poems & Ballads © 1921, p. 25)

"When I'm discharged at Liverpool 'n' draws my bit o' pay,
I won't come to sea no more;
I'll court a pretty little lass 'n' have a weddin' day,
'N' settle somewhere down shore;
I'll never fare to sea again a-temptin' Davy Jones,
A-hearkening to the cruel sharks a-hungerin' for my bones;
I'll run a blushin' dairy-farm or go a-crackin' stones,
Or buy 'n' keep a little liquor-store" –
So he said.

They towed her in to Liverpool, we made the hooker fast,
And the copper-bound official paid the crew,
And Billy drew his money, but the money didn't last,
For he painted the alongshore blue, –
It was rum for Poll, and rum for Nan, and gin for Jolly Jack;
He shipped a week later in the clothes upon his back;
He had to pinch a little straw, he had to beg a sack
To sleep on, when his watch was through, –
So he did.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble