Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-12
SHIPS BELL.
How 1t Used to Tell the Time Of Day
on Vessel.

"Strike eight bells.' shouted the Off
Ger of the deck on one of the warships
n few days ago.
Eight bells does not mean that Il
ship has this number of bells, but it is
nautical term for the hour. The maui
teal day begins and ends at noon.
when "eieht bells is struck. as it is
also at o'clock, o'clock and at mid
night. The bell is struck half hourly.
one stroke being added for each half
hour. until eight is reached, when the
count begins again. And if one is asked
the time on board of a navy ship the
response would be so many bells and
not the hour.
The bell is of ordinary size only, but
it has a sharp tone, and is hung just
forward or abaft the foremost. The
captains orderly usually watches the
clock. and reports to the officer of the
deck what hour it is in number Of
bells, who then orders the bell struck.
But at O'Clock in the morning this
rule Is varied, the orderly reporting to
the officer of the deck, Eight bells,
sir" when the officer replies, Report
to the captain eight bells, and chro-
nOmeters wound" The captain then
responds, Very well; make it So"
which the orderly reports to the officer
of the deck, who commands the mes
senger boy of the watch, "Strike eight
bells" But if the captain should
chance to remain mum and not say,
Make it so.' no one would hear the
bell strike eight, and the nautical day
would be thrown out of joint.
At noon the EIGHT bells is not
struck the navigator has corrected
the clock. either by his MONDAY sight
for position of the ship when at sea,
or from his chrOnOmeter. If with
fleet or at a naval station, the bell
must not be struck until that of the
senior officer sounds, and the messen-
ger stands by the bell, with clapper in
hand. and as soon as the flag officers
bell begins to strike the bells on the
other vessels are struck. When there
is large fleet lying close together the
effect is interesting and agreeable, and
one might imagine that chimes We're
being rung.
Every navy in the world except Eng
land follows the same custom, and
watch" from 4 to S o'clock in the eve
ming. In these hours the bell strikes
every half hour till o'clock, and then
at 30 one bell is struck, and SO on to
three bells, at $50 o'clock; but eight
bells are sounded at s O'clock.
But the ships bell has other duties
than that of keeping the time. 1t tolls
on Sunday mornings for the services
of the chaplain or his substitute; also
to call "All hands to bury the dead"
and it is fire signal, when it is rung
vigorously, and then the ships crew
take the positions to which they have
been assigned on the first day each has
been detailed to the ship. The bell is
not used as fire signal in an engage
ment. however. for the reason that the
crew might become panic stricken and
distracted from the fight; in such cases
the fire is reported to the captain, and
he dispatches an officer with men to
extinguiSh it.
The bell is also used in fog, and
when the ship is at anchor it is struck
in threeS, with a short interval between
each set of strokes. In the use of the
bell for these several purposes no con-
fusion is caused. The half hour signals
are struck in pairs, with couple of
seconds between each, and if an odd
number is to be sounded the single
stroke comes last. The tolling for
church is by slow strokes, while those
for a fog are in sets of three, and for
a fire they follow each other with great
rapidity.--New York Tribune.