The herald., 1896-07-05
THE BELLS ON SHIPS
The rlariner's Clock In the American and Eng
Iish Navles

The big white cruiser New York has a
bell on board weighing 600 pounds, which
is, in all probability, the largest bell
ever put aboard ship for use at sea.
The ships bell is the mariners clock.
The nautical day begins and ends at
noon when eight bells is struck The bell
is struck half-hGurly day and night. one
stroke being added for each half hour
until eight is reached, when the court
begins at one bell.
In the United States navy the ships
bell hangs usually under the forecastle
or Just forward of the foremast The
captains orderly keeps thetime and re-
ports to the officer of the deck the hour
in terms of bells" The officer of the
deck bids the messenger of the watch
strike the bell. There is somewhat more
formality at eight bells than at other
times, for then the hour is reported to
the captain, and the bell not struck until
he has said: Make it So"
Here is the routine on board a man
of-war: At o'clock in the morning the
orderly says to the officer of the deck.
Eight bells, sir" The officer of the deck
replies, Report to the captain eight
bells and chrororneters wound" The
orderly then goes to the captain and
says, Eight bells and chronometers
wound, SIR" The captain replies, Very
well, make it So" The orderly goes to
the officer of the deck and says, Make it
so, SIR" The officer of the deck says to
the messenger of the watch. Strike
eight bells" and if everybody has been
prompt the messenger strikes eight bells
exactly at 8 a. m.
AS a matter of fact the report "eight
bells and chronometers wound" is in
tended as a check upon the navigating
officer. To him the ships chronometers
are confided. There are three chrono-
meters and "hack" on each man. Of
war. The hack is simply portable chro-
nometer that may be taken ashore if
need be. The others, once affixed to their
place in the navigator's room or the
chart room, are never removed. The
navigator knows his chronometer even
better than he knows his shipmate The
error and the rate of the chronometer, as
compared with Greenwich mean time,
are accurately known, and it is pretty
sure if one gets out of order the others
may be depended upon. Besides the
chrorometers, there are ship clocks,
which are kept to local time. Some of
the ships clocks are now made to strike
the bells, bue the old routine is retained,
except that the clock does the work of
the messenger Whether or not the
clock would stop should the captain at
eight bells withhold his make it so'
is question yet to be determined
They do things rather differently in the
British navy. On the English men-of- war
there is a curious deviation from the
American naval method of indicating the
hour. Before the British naval mutinies
of 1897 the bells were struck as on board
! the ships of other nations. But in one of
those mutinies the signal agreed upon by
the mutineers was the stroke of five
bells, $3.50 p. m. When the signal came
the mutineers rose to slay their officers.
In the fight that followed the officers
Of shin ot 6rivon
the starboard side, and the mutineers
for time were in possession of the ship
When order was restored throughout the
navy the stroke of five bells at $3.50 p. m.
in the second dog watch" was dropped
from the place in consequence, though 5
bells are retained at $50 a. m. The stroke
at $3.50 p. m. in the British navy is one
bell, at two bells, at 80 three bells; but
at eight it Is eight bells. From that hour
to 6:30 p. IN. the sequence of the strokes
is the same as in the United States navy.
Chicago Record.