Oops!

(While I have it out for something else) My dictionary of historical slang gives: "Carry a bone in the mouth a. (Of a ship) to make the water foam before her, 'cut a feather':naut coll:C19-20;ob. Bowen prefers bone in her teeth"

(Bowen refers to F.Bowen: Sea Slang 1929.

Mick