Seeking origin of the term 'weepers'.

[csharpe]

Greetings -

I'm seeking the origin of the term 'weepers'. The Crow's Nest club's web site has the following, here’s the link if you want to look at the source –


http://crowsnestnl.ca/?page_id=50



"Weepers is the term coined by the Canadian Navy for the weekly Friday afternoon get-togethers. It is said to be based on the need to “weep” with sympathizers over the disasters of the week. Another popular belief was that spouses would be at home weeping while they waited for their waylaid sailors. Whatever the story, it is a very fine tradition to treat yourself at the end of the week."



(I think they may be wrong in attributing the Canadian navy as the source of the term – origins are more likely to be RN)

I'd be grateful for any information

Best regards to all those knowledgeable individuals who can she light on this

 

[Pusser]

E.C. Russell was considered one of the foremost naval historians in Canada.  His book, Customs and Traditions of the Canadian Forces (Deneau Publishers & Company Ltd, 1981), describes the origins as follows:

Weepers

According to the dictionary, weepers were persons hired to mourn at a funeral, but today, weepers is a highly popular thirty year old naval institution at Halifax.  First begun in the Wardroom at Admiralty House, HMCS Stadacona, about 1947, weepers is a gathering of maritime command officers after duty on Fridays.  The significance of the term itself enjoys two versions:  "to weep in one's beer" in the traditional "wailing wall" fashion, airing the problems of the week; and the glint-in-the-eye allusion to supposedly weeping wives at home for their wayward sailor spouses.