The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-06-04
BELLS on SHIPS.
The Mariners Clock In the American and
English Navies.


English Navies.
The big white cruiser New York
has bell on board weighing GOO
pounds, which is, in all proba bility,
the largest bell ever put aboard q
ship for use at sen. 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 hourly day and night,
one stroke being added for each half
hour until eight is reached, when
the count begins at one bell.
In the United States navy the
ships bell hangs usually under the
forecastle Or just forward of the
foremost. The captains orderly
keeps the time and reports to the
officer of the deck the hour in terms
of bells" The officer of the deck
then 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 morn
ing: 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 chro-
nometers wound" The orderly then
goes to the captain and says, Eight
bells and chronometers wound, sir >
The orderly goes to the officer of the
deck and says, make it SO, sir. y
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 at exactly s a. m.
AS a matter of fact, the report,
Eight bells and chronometers
wound" is intended as check upon
the navigating officer. To him the
ships chronometers are confided.
There are three chronometers and a
hack" on each man-of-war. The
hack is simply portable chronome-
ter that may be taken ashore, if
need be. The others, once affixed to
their place in the navigator's room
or the chartroom, are never remov.
ed. The navigator knows his chro.
nometer even better than he knows
his shipmate. The error and the rate
OF the thermometer, as compared
with Greenwich meantime, are &C
curately known, and it is pretty sure
if one gets out of order the others
may be depended upon. Besides the
chronometers there are ship clocks
which are kept up to local time
Some of the ships clocks are nov
made to strike the bells, but the ole
routine is retained, except that the
clock does the work of the messen
ger. Whether or not the clock would
stop should the captain at eight bells
withhold his make it SO" is a ques
ton yet to be determined.
They do things rather differently
in the British navy. On the English
men-of-war there is curious devia
ton from the American naval meth.
cd of indicating the hour. Before the
British naval mutiniss of 1897 the
bells were struck on board British
men-of-war just as they were and
are on board the ships of other ma
tions. But in one of those mutinies
the signal agreed upon by mutineers
was the stroke of five bells, 80 p. N.
When that signal came, the mu-
tineers rose to Stay their officers. In
the fight that followed the officers
} upon one ship at least were driven
over the starboard side, and the mu-
timers for a time where in posses
sion of the ship. When order was re-
stored throughout the navy, the
stroke of five bells at $3.50 D. m. in
the second dog watch was dropped
from the place in sequence, though
five bells are retained at $3.50 a. N.
The stroke at 6 80 p. IN. in the Brit
ish navy is one bell, at two bells,
at 7:30 three bells, but at 8 it is
eight bells. From that hour to $50
p. m. the sequence of strokes is the
same as in the United States navy.
Chicago Record.