ALL SHIPS, it seems - or nearly all - have bells. Indeed until comparatively recently the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea laid down that every vessel, above a certain size must be so equipped, and that "in fog mist, falling snow or heavy rains, such vessels, when at anchor, shall at intervals of not more than one minute ring the bell rapidly for five seconds". There was, however - and for all I know, still is - just one exception. Because of the association of the bell with Christian ritual, Muslims objected to its use; the regulations, therefore, provided for Turkish ships to beat a drum instead.
But the bell had another very important purpose aboard ship. For many centuries, the nautical day was divided into six periods of duty, each one lasting for four hours. With a change of watch a new team took over, and the passage of time during each watch was signalled by the sounding of the ship's bell every half hour. The strokes were sounded in pairs, with an interval following each pair, and when eight bells tolled, the watch was over.
There was also an exception, however, to this regular subdivision of the day. One of the watches - that from 4 to 8 p.m. - was "dogged", meaning shortened, or as some versions had it "curtailed", by being divided into a first and second "dogwatch", each two hours long. This provided an uneven number of watches in the 24 hours, and ensured that the same men did not come on duty at the same time every night; irksome tasks were thereby shared.
Then there was a further complication. The Mutiny at the Nore in 1797 was a well organised and prearranged rebellion, and the signal for its inception was the sound of the five bells at 6.30 p.m. which marked the end of the first half hour of the second dog watch. As it happened the mutiny was unsuccessful, but the authorities determined that never again would the signal for the mutiny be heard aboard a British ship. Since that time the bells of the second dog watch begin again with one stroke, and the normal pattern is resumed only with the tolling of eight bells at the end of the watch at 8 o'clock. There are two other exceptions to these rituals. Three extra single bells are traditionally sounded after the eight bells at midnight on Christmas Eve, and 16 bells at the same time on New Year's Eve. It is a tradition of the sea that the office of striking the 16 bells on the latter occasion is reserved for the youngest person on the ship.