Ships bell

[kwaltersmi]

I've got the same story as the OP: I received a bell as a gift last summer and haven't mounted it yet because I don't know where to put it. I think it would look like decent nautical decor in the cabin, but my boat doesn't have a horn so it could potentially be useful in the cockpit. I like the idea of mounting it on the stern rail somehow.

Carry on, dingbats!

[Boasun]

This should cover you on the status of the Bells by Edgar Allen Poe:

Hear the sledges with the bells -
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.


II

Hear the mellow wedding bells -
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight! -
From the molten - golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle - dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! - how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!


III

Hear the loud alarum bells -
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now - now to sit, or never,
By the side of the pale - faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells -
Of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
In the clamor and the clanging of the bells!


IV

Hear the tolling of the bells -
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people - ah, the people -
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone -
They are neither man nor woman -
They are neither brute nor human -
They are Ghouls: -
And their king it is who tolls: -
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells: -
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells: -
To the sobbing of the bells: -
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells -
To the tolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells, -
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.


Now the bells has four purposes on a vessel
1. For FOG signals at Anchor or AGROUND.
2. For the telling of the Hour
3. For Engine Orders.
4. General alarm Bell for sounding EMERGENCIES

Any questions??

[Giulietta]

If Cam swallows a Bell, would it ring when he wiggles his ass??

[sailboy21]

Originally Posted by Boasun

A bell was also used to give engine orders:

one bell = Ahead slow
two bell = Stop
three bell = back slow
Four bells = Full speed in the direction of the last engine order.

This was in the days when you did not have engine controls next to the helm. Those were the good old days

This is also along with the Fog signals given by the bell. (5 seconds of ding-a-linging)

Good old days? Every ship in the Navy including SSNs and SSBNs use engine order telegraph.

To stay on the subject, I did see the other day the COLGRES rule on bells. Yes, 39ft and over needs one. Obsolete? I think so, but just don't mouth off to the Coastie inspecting your vessel!

[Boasun]

The ship's boats and launches in my days did not have the engine order telegraph. We use the boat's bell to give engine orders.
And if you were good; On approach to the boat landing at full speed you would ring one bell for slow ahead, two bells to stop engine, three bells for backing, four bells for full in direction the engine is going then two bells for stop. If you are good, such as Moi, this would be the only engine orders you would need to give.
Now how many of you can do the same on making your approach under power? And I use to sail a 26' knock-about that was pure sail boat. No engine what so ever. and make landings where others feared to go...
But then there are many Navy craftmasters who can make the same brag.