I never realised that the names of the navy watches were different on the British ships. Dutch Navy has the following scheme: 00.00-04.00 Hondewacht (Dogwatch, only dogs are supposed to be awake) 04.00-08.00 Dagwacht (Daywatch, the watch were you can see the first daylight) 08.00-12.00 Voormiddag wacht (Ante Meridian watch) 12.00-16.00 Achtermiddag wacht (Past Miridian watch) 16.00-18.00 Eerste platvoetwacht (First Flatfood watch) 18.00-20.00 Tweede platvoetwacht (Second Flatfood watch) 20.00-24.00 Eerste wacht (First watch)
So you see that in the Dutch Navy they split the watch around evening dinnertime into two half watches. The term dutchman's log is not a translation but means the cheapest log available. Bye the way, did you ever see a sundial on a ship? The Dutch cruiseship Oranje had one. The ship sank after a fire long ago(I think in the pacific) so we cannot check it anymore. At 14:50 14-2-99 +0000, you wrote: -----Original Message/Oorspronkelijk bericht-------------- >Greetings, fellow dialists, > >Just a further very brief word on dog watches. On British ships, and >I'm sure everywhere else, dog watches were two half watches, each of two >hours. They were from four till six and six till eight in the evening. >Their purpose was to change the daily watch order aboard watch and watch >ships, once universal. On British merchant ships they were called first >and second dog watch while in the Royal Navy they were called first and >last dog watch. I think Thibaud Taudin-Chabot and Slawek Grzechnik are >both mistaken in thinking these watches occurred in the night. The >watch from midnight to four in the morning is called the middle watch, a >watch I once knew well. > >Interesting that the Dutch have a 'hondewacht'. This must be the same >word as dog watch. Is 'honde' just a modifier? We had another example >a moment ago with 'dutchman's log' (also 'dutch log'), which is not a >real log but a bit of wood chucked over the side and timed past two >points on the ship's length. It is very accurate at low speed. > >Message to sundialists. Please be patient and stop pushing. Sundials >will return to these pages soon. Watch this space. > >Frank > >-- >Frank Evans > ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thibaud Taudin-Chabot, home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (attachments max 500kB, in case of larger attachments contact me)
