"I'd often have a few beers with my crew after returning to shore in the local hostelry and I must admit our conversations were quite loud. Often they'd be tales of the high seas on my ship the Symmetry, either conversations about the repairs she needed, or more typically involving my bosun, or our on-board priests dreary sermons during mass."
"It occurred to me these physicist chaps may have overheard such a raucous evening and got the wrong end of the stick. I do hope they've not gone to too much trouble as a result."