The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-06-16
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Various Uses TO Wn.cL u 10 Put-How it
lsi.s the Iline OF Day.

fAloun Uses 70 Wn4Ci " h Rut-HoW it
isis The lime OF Day.
Strike eight bems!" shouted the
e1iCer OF the deck on one of the ;Tar-
snlps lew days ago, aad then one OF
the women visitors remarked. On.
tins Is cbarminei Have you ever
..~--4u me cnunes ON nevy snipy" inc
nan escort. one OF the run OF nau.i.aI
s,nOwiedsc Klnu, responded. 'Oh. yes,
a We been frequent VISITOR W lne
ships, for 1 know 80 many OF the OH
ceis, and the chimes are rung Oe-ati-
rully. But they don have them on all
OF the ships Al that instant the boy
TO whom the order mad been gwen
made eight strokes on the ships bell.
and then all was silent, even the group
OF visitors, who simply looked inqulr-
ingly into each others s faces. But me
chimes were not referred TO-
Eight bells" does not mean that n
ship mas this number OF bells, but il Is
nautical term for the hour. 'fhs
nautical day begins and ends at noon,
when eight belis' Is struck, as h Is
also at clock, 5 o clock and az mid-
night The ben is struck haiI-nOuiiy.
one stroke ueing auutd iOr each nd.f
hour unUl eight is reached when tne
count begins again. And II one 20 ASK
ed the time on BOARD of navy shsp,
the response wOuiu pc SO many DeHs,
and not the hour. The bell rs OF Oruln-
airy size only. Ddt Al mas a snarp zone,
and Is nung Just forward Or aUAI. tue
foremast 1ne captain orderly usual
ly watches the CLOCK and reports &C. the
officer of the deck what hour 1t Is in
number of bCns, VINO lhCn orders the
bell struck. But at clock in tLa
morning this rule Is varied, the orderly
reporting 10 the oulcer OI the deck.
Eight bells, sir. when the Unluet re-
phes, hepoft TO the captain eight Dells
and chronometers wound. Ihe cap
tain then responds: Very well; make
it 80, which the orderly reports to the
officer OF the deck, who commands the
messenger boy of the watch, strike
eight bells" But II the captain should
chance TO remain mum and not say
Make IL so. no one would hear the
bell strike eight and the az teal day
would be thrown out of joint
AT noon the Eight bells" Is not
struck until the navigator has correct
ed the clock, either by his MONDAY
sight for position of the ship when at
sea Of from his chronometer. II with
a fleet or at naval station, tho bell
must not be struck until that of the
senior officer sounds. and the meesen-
ger stands BY The Dell, with clapper IN
hand, and as soon as the dag 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 were
being rung
Every navy In the world except Eng
land follows the same custom, an<
England only varies at the "doa
watch" from 4 TO s o'clock in the
evening. In these hours the bell strikes
every half hour till 6 o'clock, and then
at $3.50 one bell is struck, and 80 on TO
three bells at 1880 clock, but eight
bells are sounded az o'clock. Tradi-
tion gives this reason for this custom:
Before the British naval mutinies Of
1897 the bells Of the ships we're struck
as in other navies; but 10 one OF those
mutinies the signal agreed upon by the
mutineers was the stroke Of Ave Deils
$3.50 y. M, and az that hour the mutt
neers rose 10 slay their officers. Then,
when order was restored throughout
the navy, the dog watch system %
bells was adopted. 10 allay superstition.
But the ships bell has other dutleS
than that OF keeping the time. II tolls
on Sunday mornings for the services OF
the chaplain or his substitute; also TO
call Fall hands TO bury the dead" and
it IS a fire signal when Il Is rung yigor-
ously, and then the ships crew take
the positions TO which they have been
assigned on the first day each has hoen
1 detailed tC the ship. The bell is not
used as a fire signal in an engagement.
/ however. for the reason that the crew
might become panic stricken and dis
tracted from the fight, In such cases
the fire rs reported TO the captain, and
he dispatches an officer with men 10
extingush IT, The bell is also used in
a fog, and when the ship Is at anchor
II is struck In threes, with a short in
teryal between each set OF strokes In
the use Of the bell for those several
purposes no confusion is Caused. The
half hour signals are struck la pairs
with a couple Of seconds between eacli.
and II an odd number is 10 be sounded
the single stroke comes last The toll
ing 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
Times.