If, For Instance, The Chief Mate With The Larboard Watch
Have The First Night-Watch From Eight To Twelve; At
The end of the
four hours, the starboard watch is called, and the second mate takes
the deck, while the
Larboard watch and the first mate go below until
four in the morning, when they come on deck again and remain until
eight; having what is called the morning watch. As they will have
been on deck eight hours out of the twelve, while those who had the
middle watch - from twelve to four, will only have been up four hours,
they have what is called a "forenoon watch below," that is, from
eight, A.M., till twelve, M. In a man-of-war, and in some merchantmen,
this alteration of watches is kept up throughout the twenty-four hours;
but our ship, like most merchantmen, had "all hands" from twelve o'clock
till dark, except in bad weather, when we had "watch and watch."
An explanation of the "dog watches" may, perhaps, be of use to one
who has never been at sea. They are to shift the watches each
night, so that the same watch need not be on deck at the same hours.
In order to effect this, the watch from four to eight, P.M.,
is divided into two half, or dog watches, one from four to six,
and the other from six to eight. By this means they divide the
twenty-four hours into seven watches instead of six, and thus
shift the hours every night.
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