Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-02
BUGLE CALLS ON SHIPS.
How the Sailors of the Navy Are
MusfcalIy Called to Duty.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
On board man-of-war the bugle and
| the boatswain's pipe are employed to avoid
the noise and confusion of shouted orders
The boatswain's pipe is used chiefly for
commands bearing on seamanship work Its
sounds are absolutely incomprehensible to
landsman, but every sailor understands
them quite well as he would understand
words. OF course, even with the pipe the
shouting of orders cannot be altogether
abolished. For example, If the captain de-
sizes to use his gig, he sends word to the
officer of the deck, who in turn calls the
bGatswain's mate on watch and says:
call away the gig
The boatswains mate blows a long, shrill
blast on his pipe, and shouts:
Away gigI'
This process Is changed when the bugle
is Used. Then the officer of the deck COM
mands the bugler to call away the gig and
that functionary plays the Gig" call. The
boatSwainS pipe is used when all hands
are called to moor or unmocr ship. and
when the work is completed the boatswain
pipes down. which means that he blows
pipe which permits those not actually at
work to go below. 1t is dismissal of all
hands from the work for which they were
summoned. When, however, all hands are
called to their stations for a duty connected
with the fighting business of the vessel, the
bugle is employed For instance, at $50
every morning all hands are called to quar-
tiers and inspected at their stations. After
this the usual morning drill begins. For
this purpose the buxier sounds, at 9:25,
either the music marked 'Trumpeters
call" or another known to officers Put
on swords At $3.50 he blows Quarters
for inspection" which, 1t will be seen at a
glar ce, is the call known to soldiers as the
assembly" The call marked General
quarters is used when the men are sum.
mcned to man guns, open magazines, and
make all the other preparations for
fight. The call marked Dismiss is heard
when the crew is dismissed from any duty
Of this kind. 1t corresponds to pipe
down." but is seldom used after seaman
ship job.
The battalion drilI' calls purpose is ex-
planned by its name Silence is the same
the military call Attention" and is
used for the same purpose at drills on
board ship. The "trumpeters' CALI is used
as has already been explained, and in gen.
eral as a warning five minutes before any
important routine call of a general nature.
Clean bright work. is heard after break
fast, when all hands are set to work pol
ishing up the vessels brass gear. The next
call signifies that the time for this labor
has expired. Sick CALI is heard in the
morning at the hour when the ships sur
geon is ready to receive sick men.
Muster boats crews is general call
summoning the crews of all boats, from the
big sailing launch down to the second
dinghy. Man and arm boats is used
when boats are to leave the ship for fight
Ing business. Hook on boats is a bugle
call heard when all the boats In the water
ere to be hoisted, when a vessel is pre-
Earring to go to sea. Boats falls sum-
mons the men to man the tackles called
falls by which the boats are hoisted.
The hooking-on process consists in getting
the boats under their davits and hooking
the heavy hook blocks of the falls into the
eye-bolts in the boats. The l oats are then
ready for hosting. and boats falls nat
urally follows. When a singl boat is to
be hoisted the boatswain's pipe is used.
Boats calls are used when the crews of
particular boats are to be summoned For
instance, II the first cutter is to be sent
away, the bugler blows the cutter call and
at the end of it blows a single detached G.
III the second cutter is wanted he blows
two Gs II the first, second and third cut
tiers are required. he blows first one, then
two, then three G's. The same plan is fol-
lowed with all the other calls. As soon as
the call for any boat is heard its crew goes
TO 1t Immediately and mans 1t If 1t is in
the water or lowers it If it is at the davits