Posted by Ed Kiser on August 16, 2005 at 04:47:43 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.
SA CHAPTER 30:
The storm on Wild Cat Island was building up its fury.
The Swallows and the Amazons had been awakened with all
the noise of the storm.
-----
"What time is it, John?" called Susan.
"Four bells of the middle watch," said Captain John, who had
looked at the chronometer with his pocket torch and had just
put it into ship's time for himself.
"What is it in real time?" asked Peggy.
"Two o'clock in the morning," said Captain John. After all,
there were some things these Amazons did not know.
-----
Not having any experience in the Navy, I am basically unfamiliar
this mode of telling time. It may be that in different Navies,
the terminology of this time-telling language may not necessarily
be the same, so the explanation for one country may not be right
for the other.
I understand that the day is broken up into a series of four hour
watches. The bell is rung to indicate the progress of time
through that four hour period, with the number of bells
increasing by one every half hour.
From what I have managed to dope out for myself, here is my
understanding of those watches:
8pm to midnight - first watch
midnight to 4am - mid watch
4am to 8am - morning watch
8am to noon - forenoon watch
noon to 4pm - afternoon watch
4pm to 8pm - dog watches:
4-6 first dog watch,
6-8 second dog watch
Already, I see there is a difference in what I list here, and in
what John says, as he says the "middle watch" whereas I have
listed here the "mid watch". I believe it is the same period of
four hours, but with a slight difference in name.
The end of the watch, and thus the beginning of the next watch,
is signified by the EIGHT bells. This leads to another possible
misunderstanding. To identify precisely what time is referenced
by "EIGHT BELLS" it is necessary to say not only the bells but
identify of which watch. Take for example NOON. That is
EIGHT BELLS, but is that said to be eight bells of the FORENOON
watch (which is ending) or is that eight bells of the AFTERNOON
watch (which is starting)?
This is a similar ambiguity in the civilian mode of telling time,
as to say the event happened at midnight, but is that midnight of
the day that is just ending or is that midnight of the day that
is just starting. I have noticed legal documents sometimes avoid
this problem by saying something is effective at "12:01 AM" of
such and such a day. That extra minute gets the time off the
"Fence" at midnight, and thus avoids any ambiguity as to what
date is referenced. A variation of this question would be to
ask, which is correct to say, noon A.M. or noon P.M. (Same
problem with midnight.)
There is also an oddity in this watch definition, in that the DOG
watch is broken up into two short watches. With the practice of
being on duty for one watch, and then off duty for two, (at
least, I THINK that is the way it is done) this causes the day to
be defined with seven watches, thus each day, the one of active
duty shifts daily, so you do not work the same watch every day.
An aside here, but I do wonder how that pair of half sized
watches got the name of "DOG WATCH."
With such a shifting of schedule, the civilian concept of the
biological body clock being regulated to a fixed work/sleep
schedule becomes totally confused. That old internal "clock"
sure gets a beating in this way of assigning work/sleep periods.
I suppose it is just a matter of getting used to it.
So as you can see, I am conceptualizing here based on incomplete
information and may have some ideas all wrong, but I stand ready
to be informed of the proper way with this manner of telling
time.
This practice of telling time by the number of bells is not only
found in SA (as shown by the excerpt above), but is also found in
PD, ML, GN, SD, but amazingly enough, does not come up in WD.
They had bells in WD, but it was more of avoiding being run down
in the fog, rather that being used for telling time. PP had bells, but not to tell time, but to announce the arrival of a pigeon.
Ed Kiser, South Florida