The Boatswain’s Call

Unique to naval life, are the pipes that are made by the boatswain’s call.

Piping is the Naval method of passing orders and every seaman should know how to use a “boatswain’s call”. The use of the bosun’s call goes as far back as the Crusades (1248).

In former days it was worn in English ships as a badge of rank, because it was always used for passing orders. For years it was even worn as a badge of office os the Lord High Admiral of England and his successors up to 1562. Thereafter it was used in the English fleet for passing all orders and since 1671 it became generally known as the “boatswain’s call”.

Nowadays the boatswain’s call and chain are the badge of office of the Chief Boatswain’s Mate, the Quartermaster and Boatswain’s Mates. The expression “To Pipe” means, to sound on the boatswain’s call and the spoken order to qualify it. Some “Pipes” are even orders and do not require any verbal qualification.

The Boatswain’s Call

The boatswain’s call is held in the hand between the index finger and thumb, the latter being on or near the shackle. The side of the buoy rests against the palm of the hand. The fingers close over the gun and buoy hole in such a position as to be able to throttle the exit of air from the buoy to the desired amount. Care must be taken that the fingers do not touch the edge of the hole in the buoy, or over the hole in the end of the gun, otherwise all sound will be completely choked.

Playing the Boatswain’s Call

The bosun’s call can be tuned by scraping away and enlarging the wind edge of the hole
in the buoy and it will sound if the mouth of the gun is held directly into a moderate wind.

There are two main notes; the low and the high, and three tones; the plain, the warble
and the trill.

• Low Note: The low note is produced by blowing steadily into the mouth of the gun with the hole of the buoy unobstructed by the fingers.
• High Note: The high note is produced by throttling the exit of air from the hole of the buoy. This is done by closing the fingers around the buoy, taking care not to touch the edge of the hole or the end of the gun.
• Warble: The warble is produced by repeatedly moving your hand quickly from the high to the low position, which results in a warble similar to that of a canary.
• Trill: The trill is produced by vibrating the tongue while blowing, as in rolling the letter R.

The Pipes

The following instructions show the various pipes used in the Canadian Navy. The numbers at the top of each figure represents seconds of time. The nature, continuity and tone of the notes are indicated by the various lines, and the degree of their slope indicates the speed of ascent or descent of the notes.