The late Ian Fleming, the James Bond author, once had Bond tell a man that his Royal Navy service was as an intelligence agent, not as a line officer. "Strictly a chocolate sailor," admitted the famous spy.

Was this a reference to just drinking cocoa in transit when on ships, as I gather the Royal Navy served more hot chocolate than tea?

Why else was he a "chocolate sailor"? Do any of our Commonwealth members know the term?

This goes back to WWII and a couple of decades later, so the term may not be current.

This parallels Fleming's own RNVR service, during which he was a fairly senior Intelligence officer. i believe he reached the rank of Commander, but was basically a spy.

I know someone married to a retired RAF officer who may be able to help if he knows any sailors, but hope that someone here can answer.

Is that term "chocolate sailor" still used in the UK? It has nothing to do with race. Fleming said that Bond was a Scot whose mother had been Swiss.

Found this interesting enough to google it.
I found three things known as a chocolate sailor.
None of which seem to appy in this case.

1- A childrens cartoon charactor. A little sailor man
made out of chocolate.

2-A drink by that name.
1 oz gin
2 oz dark creme de cacao
3 1/2 ozcold cola
Shake and strain into an ice-filled wine glass. Add the cola, and
garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.

3- A butterfly brown and white in color with Chocolate sailor
as a slang name.

Maybe someone else can tell us what the meaning is.

This one seems to fit the use of the original question. Perhaps the character saw himself as a cartoon character...not a REAL sailor, just someone pretending to be one.

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John 3:16 .

Since the Chocolate Sailor is both an American cartoon, and started in 2003 (forty years after Fleming died), I kinda doubt that's it.

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I always take precautions

I have, however, found reference to Fleming being called that. Bond is somewhat autobiographical. Fleming spent the war in Intelligence and was given Navy rank, as part of his cover, although he was NOT in the navy, and so was Bond.

In The Life of Ian Fleming, by John Pearson The Life of Ian Fleming - John Pearson - Google Books it mentions him being given a nickname that was to "stick for a long time to come". Scroll down that page a little, and it is highlighted just above the number 2.

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I always take precautions

Well, the British made a lot of toy soldiers. Maybe they had some chocolate ones, like wabbits at Easter. You can get chocolate Swiss Army knives. But the application doesn't seem to fit.

I'm guessing that the cocoa is the answer.

It's a reference to the fact that he's not a Front Line Sailor & that he's a Desk Jockie Social Butterfly.

"Ian Fleming was of course also in Naval Intelligence during the Second World War, being the Personal Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. He too held the rank of an honorary commander in the RNVR, and like Bond he was teased for being a ‘Chocolate Sailor’ who was more of an ‘ideas’ man who sat behind a desk in the Admiralty planning missions."

The Bondologist Blog - The Safe House of David Dragonpol: James Bond in Contemporary World War II and Cold War Events

The etymology's difficult to pin down, but ColonelFlashman and Onomea have the idea it's meant to convey: a Royal Navy sailor who's never been to sea, working bureaucratic jobs at Whitehall or in other functions unrelated to real sailoring.

The closest viable explanation for why the term is "chocolate sailor" is the notion that "true" sailors (at sea) drank liquor, while the desk jockeys (back home) drank cocoa. Sea's tough, booze; home's easy, cocoa.

Funny, but this has been discussed here before: Shaken Not Stirred

In the old U.S. Navy we had a couple of similar phases to imply the chocolate sailor.
One was the "gedunk sailor", meaning someone who hung a round the "gedunk stand" or snack bar and didn't do much meaningful work.
The other was a guy was a "pogey bait" marine, "pogey bait" was jargon for candy bars meaning guys who would rather hang around and eat snacks than work. A degrading song I remember was "I don't want a BAR (Browning), just give a candy bar, lead me to the Coke machine, I'm a pogey bait marine".
These may not apply to what you are looking for, but the Brits may have had similar phrases.
Don't shoot the messenger.

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Dick

I wouldn't recommend using the 'pogey bait' line in mixed company, should any of the ladies present hail from Korea or China.

The first word is most definitely not polite.

Pogeys is what Menhaden fish are called in the Gulf of Mexico
Pogey boats catch them in nets, and Pogey plants extract the oils the plants stink like the devil you can smell fromthem a long way off but the oils are used in cosmetics after refining The by product is fishmeal.
They are also used to bait crab traps.
A Porgy is another fish
Steve W

From the dictionary:
 
po·gey

[poh-gee] Show IPA
noun, plural po·geys. 1. Slang. . Also, pogy.
a. a package of food, candy, or other treats sent to a child at boarding school.

b. candy or a treat.

From Webster's Dictionary.

po·gey bait

noun \ˈpōgē, -gi-\

Full Definition of POGEY BAIT

slang : candy

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Dick

In English, yes & in current usage... but (so I was originally informed) the derivation of the term comes from a loose pronunciation of the Chinese euphemism for, uh, 'loose woman' that in english would be S*** or W**** (Biao'zi)

And it's factual that the Korean word pronounced "po' gee" would refer to a specific intimate part of the female anatomy.

Which explains candy being considered "bait" by some anglers.

This is an in English forum. There was no Korean or Chinese intent her.
Can we drop it please.

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Dick

Ready for the real answer of what is a Chocolate sailor?

It's a reference to the advertisement for a brand of chocolate called Black Magic sold in the UK. The stripes on Royal Navy Reserve uniform were wavy and looked a lot like the advertisement guy for the chocolates. Also sometimes referred to as the wavy Navy.
And Bob's your uncle.

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Back to back World War Champs.

So Bond was a reservist, not regular navy?

I didn't bring it up. I figured if you were going to use time-honored but obscure military terms, you might want to know what you were "saying."

"Pogey bait" originated with the China Marines.

Consider it dropped.