As a reader of the Aubrey/Maturin novels, I have begun to develop a sense of how the sails and the rigging in a Napoleonic-era British naval ship worked. I am still quite confused by the timekeeping and the daily schedule, however.
How did the system of watches and bells on such a ship map to the time of day? I know that there was a middle watch, but I’m not sure what part of the day that covered. I know there was a dog watch (and why it was called that), and I think that was overnight? What were the other watches called? How much time is represented by each bell?
When did they take their meals? I understand that the ship’s dining schedule was quite different from what was customary on land.
Although this question was inspired by a series of novels, I’m putting this question in GQ rather than CS, because, as I understand it, I am asking for real-world factual information. Perhaps we can try not to drift into too much discussion of the novels themselves, except where helpful to provide examples.
As to the time. Each 4 hour watch is broken into 8 sections, so each bell is 30 minutes.
1 Bell = 12:30, 4:30, or 8:30.
2 Bells = 1:00, 5:00, or 9:00.
At ten minutes before the watch change 1 bell was rung. This indicated that the new watch should be in the engine room or bridge. The old watch would inform those coming on watch as to what was going on. At 8 Bells the responsibilities of the watch is now the responsibility new watch. I do not think this tradition is still happening.
When going through the Panama Canal if you get stuck on Gutman Lake waiting for your ships turn to go through the canal at night you can hear the different ships ringing the bells of the watch on a quit night.
The dog watches are two hours in duration to insure that the watches rotate. So that one isn’t always on the mid watch for example.
Meals on navy ships are somewhat similar to how they are ashore. If your watch interferes with chow, you usually get a short relief of around 30 minutes to grab a quick meal and return.
Most of the crew would be a misnomer. Generally you sleep when you can depending on your watch schedule. There usually at least 25-33% of the crew awake throughout the night. At sea, I’d be lucky to get six straight hours, usually less.
Thank you! The modern perspective is interesting. My question was aimed more at the old-time sailing ships, though, where, as I understand it, the hands would have been piped awake at a certain time and their hammocks stowed.
As for meals, it is a frequent point in the book that landsmen find the Royal Navy’s mealtimes odd, so I am hoping to learn whether there was in fact a prescribed regimen of unusual mealtimes back then.
How can people stand being woken every 4 hours? At most you can get three hours of sleep at a stretch, because you have to be there to relieve the other watch exactly on time. Shouldn’t they be worried about SPACE MADNESS from crazy sleep schedules?
When I was at a USCG LORAN station, we stood communications watches port and starboard while we had 1 in 3 duty. That means we had the duty every third day, and on our duty day, the Duty ET and the Watchstander alternated 6 hour watches at the radio console (that was the only communications we had with the rest of the world, no teletype or phone service). We both had liberty the next day, so it didn’t wipe us out. And as long as routine hourly checks were made, there was no problem with the person on watch napping at the desk during the night watches. There were alarms to alert us to incoming traffic or electronics issues.
I’ve always thought this is one of the most interesting and underappreciated aspects of the old navy. When was the last time you saw a movie in which they were busily sailing the ship in the middle of the night?
