A sailor was caught AWOL as he tried to sneak on board his
ship at about 3 am.

The chief petty officer spied him and ordered the sailor to
stop. Upon hearing the sailor's lame explanation for his
tardiness, the officer ordered the sailor, "Take this broom
and sweep every link on this anchor chain by morning or it's
the brig for you!"

The sailor began to pick up the broom and commence
performing his charge. As he began to sweep, a tern landed
on the broom handle. The sailor yelled at the bird to leave,
but it didn't. The lad picked the tern off the broom handle,
giving the bird a toss. The bird left, only to return and
light once again on the broom handle. The sailor went
through the same routine all over again, with the same
result. He couldn't get any cleaning done because he can only
sweep at the chain once or twice before the blasted bird
returns.

When morning came, so did the chief petty officer, to check
up on his wayward sailor.

"What in the heck have you been doing all night? This chain
is no cleaner than when you started! What have you to say
for yourself, sailor?" barked the chief.

"Honest, chief," came the reply, "I tossed a tern all night
and couldn't sweep a link!"