This one needs lots of explanation. Jack Tar (also Jacktar, Jack-tar or even Tar) was a common English term originally used to refer to a seaman of the Merchant or Royal Navy, particularly during the period of the British Empire. By WWI the term (usually "Tar") was used as a nickname for those in the U.S. Navy. Both members of the public, and sailors often used the term to label those who "went to sea".
As to the title: "Balls to Four" refers to the "midwatch", the midnight to 4:00 A.M. watch aboard ship. "Balls" (or Four Balls) = Midnight, which in the military’s 24-hour timekeeping
system may be written as "0000," although writing midnight as "2400" is perhaps
more common. So, "Balls to four" doesn't have the connotation some of you might think...although, legend has it that the term originated with Admiral "Bull" Halsey who, by all accounts, was a crusty old salt...so....you never know.
"Haze gray and underway" refers to the color and the status (underway = at sea) of your U.S. Navy ship.
It was “haze gray and underway”,
a mantra from my youth,
that turned my mind to retrospect,
to lessons learned, in truth.
The mists of time hang round me now
in never ending lines
from cotton sacks at 5 years old
to 10 paseta wines,
with tapas but without a thought
in stand-bars near Cadiz,
I'd naught a clue to where I was,
what ghosts that I drank with.
The Pinta or the Nina crew
may well have hoisted there
before they sailed with Cristobal,
but I was unaware.
The moments of my life sail past
like frigates leaving shore.
Jack Tar was I, a swab by day,
a helmsman balls to four.
