Why sailors started pulling nails out of their ship

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard]

English sailors on the HMS Dolphin in 1766 discovered that native women on islands would trade sex for iron, and began pulling nails out,  this trade became so extensive that the loss of nails started to threaten Dolphin's physical integrity

Although traditional Tahitian culture did not sanction extramarital sexual relations, within 48 hours of Wallis's arrival, Tahitian husbands and fathers were encouraging their wives and daughters to swim out to the Dolphin and offer the sailors sex in exchange for iron nails.

Aware of the brisk trade in iron, later explorers such as Captain James Cook brought supplies of nails and hoop iron with them to barter.

https://books.google.pl/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA682&dq=english+sailors+hms+dolphin+iron+trade+in+tahiti&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=english sailors hms dolphin iron trade in tahiti&f=false

 

[seanjo]

And that's where the phrase "Nailed it" comes from.....

[jodgi]

This amuses me.

[Fluffy Fishy]

Is anyone aware whether this still works as way to meet girls? I'm asking for a friend of course...

[Thonys]

so we actually need iron nails as a trade good:)

 

that is why we use wooden nails for construction

 

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Thonys

[Surcouf]

It's a riddle!
So, a dolphin, sex and iron? I know !!! A siren with a chastity belt !!!!!

I won, I won ????