One of your readers was asking if any poetry was known in the training of men in the Royal Navy.
I have in my possession a 1937 VOLUME I Seamanship manual (albeit tatty!) that was issued to me in 1948 when I joined HMS St Vincent at Gosport as a nozzer, Boy II Class, and on page 208 in the RULES OF THE ROAD section I came across the following “Aids to Memory” attributed to Thomas Gray.
TWO STEAMSHIPS MEETING
When both lights you see ahead
‘Starboard” your wheel and show your red.
TWO STEAMSHIPS PASSING
Green to green or red to red
Perfect safety – go ahead
TWO STEAMSHIPS CROSSING
If to your ‘starboard’ RED appear
It is your duty to keep clear;
To act as judgment says it proper
To starboard or Port Back – or stop her
But when upon your port is seen
A steamer’s ‘starboard’ light of green,
There’s not so much for you to do,
For ‘green’ to ‘port’ keeps clear of you.
ALL SHIPS MUST KEEP A LOOKOUT AND STEAMSHIPS MUST STOP AND GO ASTERN IF NECESSARY
Both in safety and in doubt,
Always keep a good lookout;
In danger with no room to turn,
Ease her – stop her – go astern.
- and the officer also wrote rules of the road for sailing ships on page 209.
“How those four rules, we all must note,
Are no use in a sailing boat,
As we are dependant on the wind,
Another set of rules we find.
A ‘close-hauled’ ship you’ll NEVER see,
Give way to one that’s ‘running free,’
It’s easier running free to steer
And that’s the reason she keeps clear,
With wind the same side running free,
One’s to windward, one’s to lee,
The leeward ship goes straight ahead
The other alters course instead.
Both close hauled or both quite free,
ON DIFFERENT TACKS, we all agree,
The ship that has the wind to PORT
Must keep quite clear, is what we’re taught.
At other times the steering craft
Is that which has the wind right aft.”
I trust that the information contained within this letter will be of use to you as I know that some of these small pieces of information can drift into obscurity.
I am a member of the RNA also the Algerines Association, and the Fast Minelayers and something your never forget is your service number – DSSX 856877! |
