Naval Customs And Traditions

The origins of the hand salute are obscure, and range from knights raising their armoured visors to signal peaceful intent, to holding up an open hand to demonstrate that no weapon was being carried. A particular favourite in naval circles seems to be turning the palm down so that hands dirtied at sea would not be visible to august personages.

The salute is a mark of respect, but it symbolizes much more – confidence, trust, and both a willingness and obligation to obey legal orders. There is nothing demeaning or servile about saluting; it is a mutual obligation by both parties - the junior to render the salute, and the senior to acknowledge it. Because the hand salute is both a greeting and mark of courtesy, rendering a salute can rarely be wrong. Even if technically incorrect in a given situation, the mistake can be easily forgiven, while not extending this mark of respect could cause offence.

When crossing the gangway onto a commissioned ship, both officers and ratings salute the quarterdeck at the gangway's inboard end. In civilian clothes, coming briefly to attentionis the equivalent. Some say that the origin of this practice is recognizing the authority of the seat of command, while others trace it back to a more religious observance begun when a shrine or crucifix was carried aft.

The Ghana Navy also permits hand saluting when a cap is not worn for all ranks. The origin of the “eyes right” is interesting. In jolly old England, serfs and peasants were forbidden to look on their lords and masters, and had to avert their faces when they passed. In contrast, trusted soldiers in service to the lord were extended the privilege of looking him directly in the eye. Thus, “eyes right/left” became a form of salute

When warships, Ghanaian or foreign, underway or alongside, pass each other between sunrise and sunset, the junior salutes the senior. The junior initiates the salute by sounding the “still” on the bosun's call. The senior ship then sounds the “still”, and a few moments later, the “carry on”. The junior ship then sounds the “carry on”. While the salute is being rendered, personnel on the upperdecks come to attention and face in the direction of the honours being exchanged. A hand salute is given from the quarterdeck area by the Officer of the Day/Officer of the Watch if the ship is alongside or at anchor. If underway, a designated officer makes the hand salute from the bridge area.

Traditionally, merchant ships saluted warships as they passed, and not just warships of their own nationality. This salute was rendered by striking the topsails. In the age of steam, a different method was needed, so merchant ships began dipping their ensigns in salute. This was acknowledged when the warship dipped her ensign in reply, and then rehoisted it close up. This tradition continues today, although it is often overlooked since there is no legal requirement. Still, if the merchant ship passing you has a Scottish or Danish mate, you can be sure that those proper seafarers will dip. Be prepared.

At one time, this action was a formal salute. The ship's company appeared on the upper deck and on the yards to show that the guns were not manned and that no ill intent was planned. Those aloft grabbed the rigging with both hands to demonstrate that no small arms were carried. Today, we simulate this action by clutching the guardrails only. The lesson here is that if you are going to render this honour, you have to ensure that it is done correctly. This means not only that some rehearsal is necessary, but that the cheer itself must to given loudly and enthusiastically. Pay particular attention to the spacing of the ship's company at the guardrails. Inattention here is quickly evident to the spectators, including the dignitary being honoured.

This tradition is so old that no accurate assessment can be made of its origins.

Certainly, the Vikings are known to have recognized the crossing of important parallels of latitude. The most significant of these milestones, at least for northern hemisphere sailors, is the crossing of zero degrees latitude – the Equator. Ships conduct ceremonies that are many hundreds of years old to welcome “tadpoles” into the ranks of “shellbacks”. This ceremony is an age-old tradition involving safe practices that targeted all the uninitiated, regardless of rank, with amusing activities designed to mark the milestone.

Naval officers wear caps, not hats. In ships, everyone normally wears caps on the upper deck and members of the watch wear caps on the bridge. Below decks, caps are normally only worn when making formal reports or at defaulters. (In civilian buildings, they are normally worn). For example, while a gentleman in civilian clothes would remove a cap in an elevator, a naval officer would not. In military HQs, it is quite common to remove caps shortly after entering. A cap would never be worn in an office, a mess, a messdeck or a cabin. These procedures are in stark contrast to the army, which mandates the wearing of caps indoors so that salutes can be rendered. They do this when entering an office regardless of the rank of the occupant. The Navy does not do this.

At one time, mourning was shown by donning sack cloth and smearing the body with ashes. The nautical equivalent was to drape sails along the yards in obvious disarray. There was even a special verb applied to the procedure. Such a display was so at odds with the normal practices of good seamanship, that the yards were said to be “scandalized”. The lowering of the ship's ensign half way down today represents this deliberate display of grief.

The Ship's Bell is an important traditional symbol that is often one of the few treasures invariably saved when a ship is laid up or sent for disposal. Today, it is a prop in many shipboard ceremonies such as “colours”, but it began as a simple way to attract attention to orders and initiate events. A ship's bell is mentioned as early as 1485. Records from 1675 decree that “if it proves foggy weather by day or night, we must ring our bells and fyre (sic) a musket now and then”. The use of bell as a fog signal was eventually made mandatory in the Royal Navy in 1858. Indeed, even in this modern age, a ship of a certain size is legally required by the International Rules of the Road to have a bell.

In the days of sail, the bell was sounded each time the half-hour glass was turned. This developed into the system whereby the passage of each thirty minutes of a watch was marked. After the first thirty minutes, there was one bell; after an hour, two. This continued until eight bells indicated the end of a four-hour watch.

The Ship's Bell is an important traditional symbol that is often one of the few treasures invariably saved when a ship is laid up or sent for disposal. Today, it is a prop in many shipboard ceremonies such as “colours”, but it began as a simple way to attract attention to orders and initiate events. A ship's bell is mentioned as early as 1485. Records from 1675 decree that “if it proves foggy weather by day or night, we must ring our bells and fyre (sic) a musket now and then”. The use of bell as a fog signal was eventually made mandatory in the Royal Navy in 1858. Indeed, even in this modern age, a ship of a certain size is legally required by the International Rules of the Road to have a bell.

In the days of sail, the bell was sounded each time the half-hour glass was turned. This developed into the system whereby the passage of each thirty minutes of a watch was marked. After the first thirty minutes, there was one bell; after an hour, two. This continued until eight bells indicated the end of a four-hour watch.

Traditionally, a young officer sought the permission of his Commanding Officer (CO) to marry, partly because many did not necessarily have the means to support a spouse. Although we would often like to, t h ey d o n' t l e t u s s ay n o a ny m o re . Nevertheless, it is still polite to seek permission to marry, if only to signal an intention to change your circumstances, 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 and it is still the case today in the Ghana Navy. 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.

Every naval cadet or midshipman at sea for the first time has been told by a hairy old buffer that whistling in a ship could result in c o n f u s i o n w i t h t h e s o u n d o f t h e Boatswain's call. None of them ever believed this since the sounds were so dissimilar. A more believable explanation for this phobia, believable because it relies on a sailor's childlike superstition, concerns “whistling up a wind”. When becalmed in the doldrums, it was thought that whistling enough could stimulate a wind. A knife was sometimes driven into the main mast to indicate the direction from which the desired wind should blow.

Too often, the result after a long period of drifting in those horse latitudes was a gale, i.e. too much wind. Eventually, jolly jack tar decided that it was better to leave the whole business up to the Almighty, and whistling in ships has been frowned on ever since.

The Greeks are known to have used flutes to pass orders in their galleys, and drums have b e e n u s e d a t s e a fo r m i l l e n n i a t o communicate short orders that might not be heard or understood if given verbally. There are references from the crusades in 1248 describing orders being given by whistle. In sailing ships, many of the directions for calling the watch or handling sails were given this way. Even today, we use a Boatswain's pipe (more accurately, a Boatswain's “call” since about 1500) to signal several routine events during a ship's day. We use the shrill notes of this whistle to attract attention before announcements about exercise emergencies. We pay respects by piping senior authorities on board and piping other warships. Even a routine summons is called “a pipe”, although in a taut ship these are kept to an absolute minimum. When a ship's company has done particularly well at something, the old man gets on the blower to “make a pipe” praising the effort.

2Think about this. In the twenty-first c e n t u r y w e s t i l l m a k e i m p o r t a n t announcements by blowing a series of notes, on an “instrument” that has been unchanged for five hundred years, and we blow them into an electronic broadcast system designed specifically to carry the human voice to speakers throughout the ship. We don't think twice about doing this. What better example of the power of history and tradition could there be? It would be interesting to see how the modern sailor would respond to the archaic pipe.

Over the centuries, the procedures for launching boats and ships have changed along with their size and method of construction. Early ships were carried to the water, or moved on crude rollers. For centuries this fundamental method was employed although the technical details were refined. New ideas were needed as ships were constructed by joining together pre-fabricated modules, and ships were often built upside down. Most recently, ships have been built in dry docks. Thus, there is no “launching” as such, but instead a first floating up.

Whatever the method, we still undertake some ceremony to recognize the launching and/or naming of a ship. The sacrifice of animals or humans to mark the occasion has been replaced by ritual sacrifice. This practice has evolved from using blood, to employing wine (symbolic blood), to the champagne of today. The original silver chalice was replaced by a more pedestrian glass bottle from about 1690. Eminent men once took on these duties, but in 1811, the first woman participated in the naming of a warship.

This tradition continues despite the fact that that first lady missed the ship and hit a spectator with the bottle. After that, for the sake of safety and the avoidance of lawsuits, the bottle has been secured to the bow of the ship with a lanyard. The launch begins with the famous words “God bless this ship, and all who sail in her”. At the moment of commissioning, the jack and ensign are hoisted for the first time, and the national flag is broken at the masthead. From that moment, the vessel will be a legal part of this nation wherever in the world she may be; she has become sovereign territory.

“Splice the main brace" is an order given aboard naval vessels to issue the crew with an alcoholic drink. Originally an order for one of the most difficult emergency repair jobs aboard a sailing ship, it became a euphemism for authorized celebratory drinking afterward, and then the name of an order to grant the crew an extra ration of rum or grog.

Braces are the lines that control the angle of the yards. On square-rigged ships, the main brace was the longest line in of all the running rigging.[1] It was common to aim for the ship's rigging during naval battles. If the main brace was shot away, it was usually n e c e s s a r y t o r e p a i r i t d u r i n g t h e engagement; the ship was unmaneuverable without it and would have to stay on the same tack. Even repairing it after the battle was a difficult job; the main brace ran through blocks, so it could not be repaired with a short splice or a knot. Splicing in a large run of hemp was strenuous work, and generally the ship's best Able Seamen were chosen to carry out the task under the supervision of the Boatswain ("bosun").[2] On completion of the task, it was customary for the men to be rewarded with an extra ration of rum. The Boatswain would take a sip from the ration of each of the men he had selected for task. Eventually the order to "splice the main brace" came to mean that the crew would receive an extra ration of rum, and was issued on special occasions: after victory in battle, the change of a monarch, a royal birth, a royal wedding or an inspection of the fleet.[3] In cases where the whole fleet was to receive the signal, it would be run up with a lift of flags or sign.