Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-30
NAVAL CEREMONIES
Many of Our Present Customs Are
Of Ancient Origin.
SHOWING HONOR 10 an ADMIRAL
Some Of These Courtesies Are
More Than Mere FormaIities.
SIDELIGHTS ON HISTORY

Written for The Evening Star.
Now that the country is booming with
cannon in honor of Admiral Dewey, and
ceremonial courtesies are being showered
upon him in all directions. 1t becomes of
more than common interest to know some
thing about the origin and development of
the ''honors and distinctions which go to
make up the pleasanter side of sailor
mans life.
Courtesies, certainly, most of them are
today, but they are also the silk-clad sur
vivals of the time when the mailed hand of
superior force called to the weaker to do
homage or to take the unpleasant conse-
Quences, and some few of them were strate-
gems in the name of politeness to escape
the trickery Of a possible foe or to i'm
press him with ones unsupported might
and to draw the stranger into like dis
play.
By this time most of US know that the
navy regulations prescribe that admiral
shall be saluted with seventeen guns; that
the marine guard shall be paraded; that
the drums shall roll off four "ruffles'' and
the bugles sound a like number of flour
ishes"; that the band shall then play a
march; that the marines shall present arms
and the officers and seamen present salute
as the admiral comes in at the gangway
and that his fiag-if he be separated from
his flagship-shall be raised to the MAN.
mast and so continue till .he leave the
vessel AS an added honor, the men not
employed at the saluting guns are sent to
the rails or to man the yards as the ships
rig permit, and when the marine guard is
not present he Is given the other dis
tinction of having the sides piped.'' L. e.,
eight of the Notwithstanding of the ap-
prentice boys are told off to man the side
ladder and to salute him he comes up
the side from his barge.
Two Centuries Aro
Butler thus describes a similar ceremony
admiral toward the end of the seventeenth
century: Upon the first kenn of his Barge
from the Ship, the Ships Decks. Tops,
Yards and Shrowds, are all to be thorough
ly manned and as it were hung with men:
upon the nearer approach of his Barge the
noise of Trumpets are to Sound, and to
hold on, until he comes within less than
Musquet Shot of the Ships side At what
time the Trumpets are to cease, and all such
as carry Whistles, are to Whistle his We'll
come three times. and in every Interim,
the Ships Whole Company are to hale him
with a joynt shout after the Custom of the
sea. AS soon as the Whistles and the
shouts of Salute have done, the Trumpets
are again to sound his Welcome to the
ships side; and the Ships side and Ladder
belng thoroughly manned by the primeSt
and best-fashioned Men, the Captain is to
stand ready upon the Deck, by the Ships
side to receive him Of he be Prince upon
his Knee, and thence to conduct him into
all the principal Rooms and Offices of the
Ship, and at last into the great Cabin
royalty furnished to his retirement and re-
past: And being at his Meat the Musick is
tC be at hand, and all the Guns to be ready
Laden and Primed, that he may Command
What Hea.ths he please. And thus having
entertained him. and fully informed him
in all his demands; He is in the like man
ner to be waited upon at his departure and
IA Cd To Do
received: And being in his Barge after that
the Irumpets have sounded a loath to de-
part. and that his Barge is fallen off a
TAR birth from the ships side, He is to be
saluted with SO many Guns for farewell
as the Ship is able to give, provided that
they always be of odd number
Signs of Mourning.
Teonge, about the same time, saws: This
day being the day of our Kings marter-
dome. wee shew all the signes of morning
as possible we can. viz; our jacks and
haggs only halle staff high; and at
clock in the afternoons our ship fyred ~
gums; the trumpetts at the close ringing
the bells on trumpetts very dolefully"
Inc choice OF an odd number of guns is
me survival OF the superstitious belief in
the luck of odd numbers and in the various
naval salutes of today this is still obsery-
ed. AT the time Teonge wrote salute for
a living prince would have been twenty
one guns.
The salute with guns dates from the earlf
est appearance of ordnance on shfpboard.
and the shot of honor differed in nowise
from that of hostility save that it was not
pointed at the saluted craft A blank dis
charge for many decades was considered
an empty compliment and it was not till
some time In the reign of James 1 that
snotted salutes We're prohibited but the
practice did not cease with the inhibition
In fact, the custom was not brought to an
after cOnSid6ra
been done to coast towns unhapriIy living
within range of those friendly compliments
of the day.
Wasting GunpOwder.
Guns were fired on every possible pretext
coming under the liberal term of courtesies
Good-byes to parting wives and sweethearts
were emphasized by blasts of the kings
powder. and no toast or health was con-
sidered complete without proper punctua-
ton of gun fire.
Oppenheim says: Besides producing
dangerous international friction, the matter
of saluting was cover for theft and an
excuse for waste at home" amounting so
1t is said, to quite a thousand barrels of
powder a year. Every one stood closely
on his honor in the matter of salutes, and
In 1881 Pennington was fired from Pen
dennis Castle for not striking his flag. No
occurrence Was of too little consequence
to be thus sgnalized. In one gunner's ac-
COUNTS we HIu. one IducOn Wnen the mas
ter's wife went ashore One minion the
master commanded to be shot off to ship
his father was In. We shot two faucons in
healths and three when Master Newton
went ashore
The hired merchantmen in the royal pay
had as much self-respect on this question
as men-of-war and saluted towns on en-
tering and leaving harbor, the captains
brother. and the captains friends for their
farewell in orthodox service fashion,
"In Grateful -SubmissfOn.''
Early in the maritime history Of England
she declared her sovereignty of the British
seas. and in treatise published in 1872 We
read: THE next point Is the striking Of the
sail, which is nothing but a humble &C
of his majesty's sovereignty
of the British seas, and a grateful submis-
sion for their liberty to pass upon them.
- The striking of the sail is one of the
ancientest prerogatives of the crown of
and in the second year of King
John 1t was declared at Hastings by that
for a law and custom of the sea,
That II a lieutenant on any voyage. being
ordained by the king. doth encounter upon
the sea any ship or vessel, laden or una-
den, that will not strike vail their bon
netts at the commandment Of the lieuten-
ant of the king. or Of the admiral Of the
king, or his lieutenant. but will fight
against them of the fleet. that If they can