Nautical traditions

Boatswain’s Call The Boatswain’s Call is a whistle used for passing orders on ships. Some Troops use it regularly to maintain maritime tradition. There are 2 notes - low and high. The low note is the ordinary note obtained by blowing the call with the hand open and the high note is obtained by closing the fingers around the “buoy” but not too tightly. Ship’s Time The traditional method of indicating time on a ship is by the sounding of a bell. The day is divided into seven watches of four hours each, except the two “dog watches” which are two hours each. This is to give an uneven number of watches so that the crew is on at different times each day.

The “call” is the name of the instrument and a “pipe” is the sound it makes. The following pipes are the main ones likely to be used in Sea Scouting:Middle watch 0000 - 0400 Morning watch 0400 - 0800 Forenoon watch 0800 - 1200 Afternoon watch 1200 - 1600 First dog watch 1600 - 1800 Second dog watch 1800 - 2000 First watch 2000 - 2400

“Stand by” - a warning, followed by a verbal order - e.g. “Troop, fall in” “The Still” - to obtain silence, to stop activity temporarily or as the flag is raised or lowered. “Carry on” - may follow the “Still” or the “Stand by”, meaning resume normal activity. “The Side” - formal salute, welcoming an important visitor “on board”.

Nautical Traditions

Lead Line This is a long line with a lead weight on the end, used for centuries to measure the depth of water. The “hand lead-line” measured depths to 20 fathoms (1 Fathom = 6 feet) and was marked at 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 and 20 fathoms. Materials such as leather strips, pieces of white duck, red bunting, blue serge etc. were used as marks, the different materials being easy to identify in the dark by feel. The marked fathoms were called “marks” and the intervening fathoms “deeps”.

A boat’s lead line usually measured about 3 fathoms and was marked in feet and fathoms by knots. If you have a leadline in your troop it will probably be about 5 to 6 meters long, marked with knots. When using a lead line in a moving boat, remember to swing the line and throw it ahead of the boat so that the weight is on the bottom when the line is vertical. You can easily tell from the feel of the line when it is on the bottom. Note the depth from the marks on the line. If the water is shallow enough, an easy way to find the depth is to use an oar.