Passing Honors

Passing honors are ordered by ships and boats when vessels, embarked officials, or embarked officers pass (or are passed) close aboard - 600 yards for ships, 400 yards for boats.

Such honors are exchanged between warship and merchant ships, between ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard, and between most foreign navy ships passing close aboard. "Attention" is sounded, and the hand salute is rendered by all persons in view on deck. Dipping their ensigns is observed between merchant ship and a warship when they pass each other at sea.

Gundecking

In the modern Navy, falsifying reports, records and the like is often referred to as "gundecking." The origin of the term is somewhat obscure, but at the risk of gundecking, here are two plausible explanations for its modern usage. The deck below the upper deck on British sailing ships-of-war was called the gundeck although it carried no guns. This false deck may have been constructed to deceive enemies as to the amount of armament carried, thus the gundeck was a falsification.

A more plausible explanation may stem from shortcuts taken by early Midshipmen when doing their navigation lessons. Each Mid was supposed to take sun lines at noon and star sights at night and then go below to the gundeck, work out their calculations and show them to the navigator. Certain of these young men, however, had a special formula for getting the correct answers. They would note the noon or last position on the quarter-deck traverse board and determine the approximate current position by dead reckoning plotting. Armed with this information, they proceeded to the gundeck to "gundeck" their navigation homework by simply working backwards from the dead reckoning position.

Tending the Side.

Piping as a ceremony with side boys is a custom evolving from the days when visitors were hoisted aboard by use of the boatswain's chair.  The pipe was used for the commands "hoist away" and "avast heaving."  Members of the crew of the host ship did the hoisting.  It is from the aid they rendered in tending the side that the custom originated of having a certain number of men, ("side boys,") present.  In time it became a courtesy for high ranking officers and diplomatic officials to honored by sideboys and piping ceremony. 

Arch of Swords

Traditionally, a young officer sought the permission of his Commanding Officer to marry, partly because many did not necessarily have the means to support a spouse. Although we would often like to, they don’t let us say no anymore. Nevertheless, it is still polite to seek permission to marry, and to give your CO the opportunity to congratulate you before the fact. 

In the past, it was also required to have permission to marry in uniform. This has become more popular of late, and the arch of swords has been adopted by wedding planners everywhere as something a little out of the ordinary. This custom of forming an arch, with the sword’s cutting edges upward in the “quinte” or fifth guard position, symbolizes the guarding of the couple as they embark on married life.
Watch a marriage of an officer of Indian navy in my native place.

Coxswain and Boatswain

As required by 17th Century law, British ships-of-war carried three smaller boats: the boat, the cock-boat, and the skiff.  The boat, also called the gig, was usually used by the Captain to go ashore and was the larger of the three.  The cock-boat was a very small rowboat used as the ship's tender. The skiff was a lightweight all-purpose vessel, generally with a flat bottom. The suffix "swain" means keeper, thus the keepers of the boat, cock, and skiff were called boatswain and cockswain (or coxswain).
Today, any boat used by a ship's Captain is referred to as the gig.  Embarked Admirals use a boat referred to as the barge.  Skiffs are generally aluminum and are used for painting the sides of the ship.
In common use, boatswain is usually shortened to bo'sun.  A ship's bo'sun is the senior member of the deck hands.  The coxswain mans the helm (rudder) of a ship's boat when underway.

A coxswain or cockswain was at first the swain (boy servant) in charge of the small cock or cockboat that was kept aboard for the ship's captain and which was used to row him to and from the ship. The term has been in use in England dating back to at least 1463. With the passing of time the coxswain became the helmsman of any boat, regardless of size. 

Another reference defines “Swain” or Swein” as Anglo-Saxon for servant. Boatswain refers to the warrant or petty officer in charge of the deck crew.

Naval Time and Watches

Ship Organisation

There is no room for passengers in a warship. Everyone on board must have a job to do and jobs must be so arranged that they do not overlap. If one pair of hands or one brain in a ship is idle when it shouldn't be, that ship is running less efficiently than it should.

By tradition and by necessity, sailors are jacks-of-all-trades, but in this age of complicated equipment and crowded ships it has also become necessary for a sailor to become master of at least one trade. A ship is organized in such a way that the men of all trades work together to form a team. That is, the work of the men of one trade complimets or adds to that of all the other trades and so on, until everyone is working efficiently and all jobs are being done. It is necessary then. to allocate certain particular jobs to men of certain trades.

Naval Time and Watches

In a ship, the day is divided into watches, and the watches are divided into half-hour periods. At the end of every half hour period the ship's bell is struck. The 24-hour clock is used instead of the usual 12-hour variety.

Watches are as follows;               

0000 - 0400  middle watch               

0400 - 0800  morning watch

0800 - 1200  forenoon watch

1200 - 1600  afternoon watch

1600 - 1800  first dog watch

1800 - 2000  last dog watch

2000 - 0000  first watch

Each of the 4-hour watches begins and ends with 8 bells. At the end of the first half hour of the watch 1 bell is struck; at the end of the second half hour 2 bells; the third half hour, 3 bells, and so on until at the end of the eighth half hour, or the end of the watch, 8 bells are struck.

Shifting Colors

When a ship is anchored or moored between 8.00 a.m and sunset, she fly her ensign at the flagstaff and the jack at the jack staff. When underway, the ensign is flown at the gaff (the diagonal spar projecting aft from the mast) and the jack is not flown at all. The process of changing from one display to the other is known as shifting colors. 

• The ensign at the flagstaff and the jack at the jackstaff are hauled down smartly (rapidly).

• The steaming ensign is run up smartly to the gaff.

• Any flags or pennants that are displayed only when not under way, such as award pennants or  the personal flag or pennant of an officer who is not aboard, are hauled down smartly.

• The call sign is broken at the signal yard.

As the ship prepares to get under way, sailors are positioned at the bow, fantail, and bottom of the halyards running to the gaff and the signal yards. The "steaming" ensign is attached--or "bent on"--to its halyard in preparation for hoisting. The ship's call sign and any other prescribed signal flags are run up, packed to be "broken" at the right moment. At the instant that the last mooring line leaves the pier or buoy, or the moment that the anchor is aweigh, the boatswain's mate of the watch blows a long blast on his whistle and passes the word, "Underway--shift colors." Immediately and simultaneously:

A ship mooring or coming to anchor goes through the same process in reverse, with the boatswain's mate giving the word "Moored--shift colors" when the first mooring line is made fast or the anchor is let go. In either case, the desired effect is one set of flags vanishing and another flashing out at precisely the same time.