The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1902-06-19

"N -Apliihg bttl TOT ChufCns
"Strlke eight bellsw shouted the of.
ficer of the deck on one Of the warships
a few days ago, and then one Of
tie women visitors remarked; "Oh!
this is charmingl Have you ever heard
the chimes on navy sbipT The man
escort, one of the full of knowledge
Of nautical knowledge kind. responded.
"Oh, yes; I've been a frequent visitor
to the ships, for know so many OF the
officers, and the chimes are rung beau
tifully. But they don't have them on
all the ships" At that instant the boy
TO whom the order had been given
made eight strokes on the ships bell
and then all was silent, even the group
Of visitors who had simply looked in
Qulringly into one another's faces.
But the "chines" were not referred to-
Eight bells does not mean that
ship has that number Of bells, but it is
q nautical term for the hour. The nau-
teal day begins and ends at noon,
when eight bells" is struck, as it is
also at 4 o'clock, 8 o'clock and at mid.
night. The bell is struck half hourly,
one stroke being added each half hour,
until eight is reached when the count
begins again, And il one is asked
the time on boaro a navy ship the
response would he so many bells and
not the hour. The bell is Of ordinary
size only, but il has q sharp tone, AID
is hung just forward or abaft the fore
mast. The captains orderly usually
watches the clock and reports to the
officer Of the deck what hour 1t is in
number Of bells, who then orders the
bell struck. But at S o'clock in the
morning this rule is varied, the orderly
reporting to the officer Of the deck,
Eight bells, STRIP when the officer re-
plies, Report to the captain eight
bells and chrolOmeters wound" The
captain then responds, VERY well;
make it So" which tie orderly reports
to tho officer Of the deck, who com.
nalds the messenger boy Of the
watch, "Strike eight bells" But If the
captain should chance to remain mum
AID not say, Make it So" no one
would hear the hell strike eight, and
Il c nautical day would be thrown cut
OF joint.
at noon the eight bells" is not
struck until the navigator has corrected
the clock, either by his nConday sight
for position Of the ship when at sea
CT from his chronometer, II with a
feet or at a naval station the bell must
not be struck until that Of the senior
officer sounds, and the messenger
stands by the bell, with clapper IN
hand, and as soon as the flag officers
Lell begins to strike, the bells on the
Ger vessels are struck. When there
is a large feet 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 sane custom, and
England only varies at the "dog
watch" from A to s o'clock In the
evening. In these hours the bell strikes
every half hour till o'clock, and then
at ESQ one bell is struck, and so Oh to
three bells, at $50 O'clock; but eight
bells are sounded at s o'clock. Tradi-
ton gives this reason for this custom:
Before the British naval mutinies of
1907 the bells of the ships were struck
as in other navies; But in one Of those
mutinies the signal agreed upon was
the stroke of Eve bells $3.50 D. M, and
at that hour the mutineers rose to Stay
their officers. Then, when order was
restored throughout the navy, the dog
watch system Of bells was adopted, to
allay superstition.
But the ships ben has other duties
than thatof keeping the time. II tolls
on Sunday MORNINGS for the services
Of tAe chaplain or his substitute; also
to call "All hands to bury the dead"
and it is a fire signal, when rung Wig
orously, and then the slip's crew takes
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 engagement,
however, for t,-%aeason that the crew
night become paniAtricken, md dis
acted from the tight; 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
a fog, and when ship is at anchor
1t is struck in threes, with a short H.
teryal between each set Of strokes. In
the use Of the bell for these several
purposes no confusion is caused. The
half hour signals are struck in pairs
with a couple of seconds between each
and IL an odd number is to be sounded
the single stroke comes last The toll
| t,,o, FOR oburch IL by slow strokes, whil(