My Uncle's table, and his Bosun's whistle

[Navy Chief]

Here is a picture of the table mentioned in a previous post; plus a Bosun's whistle that belonged to my Uncle Bob, (Capt. R.O. Jackson, SR.

I am honored, to say the least. This afternoon will be the memorial for Aunt Sally. Actual internment will be at Arlington, on June 21st.

NC

[Craig Taylor]

That's a very cool piece of history, Chief. Thanks for sharing it with us. :salute: for your Uncle.

I've always been fascinated by the bos'n's whistles but never could get the hang of it.

Cheers,

[BurningBeard]

I always thought those were called Boatswain's (bo's'n)Pipes. As in being "Piped Aboard", but what do I know, I was in the Army. The way they work is you hold them between the thumb and the flat of the index finger, with the finger pointing away from you. You vary the pitch by moving your remaining fingers over the hole on top of the ball. They were tuned by either melting wax into ball or tapping dents into it (but I'm sure no self respecting bo's'n would really do the latter).

Beard

[Roadburner440]

That table is even better than I imagined it. Still very shiny. As for the pipe they are used in many different occassions. Me being in an aviation squadron we normally only see them at retirements/change of command ceremonies when people getting piped "coming aboard and going ashore" through the bullets. They use those pipes everyday on the ship to announce chow, revielle (getting up in the morning), and other special events. I do not miss hearing it numerous times a day aboard the ship that is for sure. :icon_lol: I assume you will have to make a decent investment in Brasso there NC if you intend on keeping that table looking good. Hopefully you live a ways away from salt water.

[tigisfat]

Are those the whistle's that have that familiar low-high-low sound associated with navy vessels? Is it recorded these days or is it still played over an intercom?

[Navy Chief]

Are those the whistle's that have that familiar low-high-low sound associated with navy vessels? Is it recorded these days or is it still played over an intercom?

Yes, the same type whistle. As for whether it's a recording nowadays, I cannot testify to. The last deployment I was on, was onboard the USS Saratoga in 1990, and I believe the whistle calls over the 1MC intercom was live, not recorded then.

Oh, and another bit of trivia I did not know about the table. The brass cover was called a Tompion.

NC

[Willy]

They were live on my last ship in 96.

[Roadburner440]

They still do it live, and this is as of 2008. If it was a recording they wouldn't be able to botch it on occassion. :icon_lol: