Ship to Ship Salute

[HALOnlyCruiser]

Here's a question, and I'll bet Copper10-8 can answer it for me:
Summer, 2002. We are departing Ketchikan early in the afternoon on the Amsterdam. The Zaandam is anchored in Tongass Narrows, and as we pass her, we give three blasts on the ship's whistle. She answers with three blasts. Then we give one blast, ans she answers with one blast. Is this a maritime tradition, or a Holland America tradition when passing a sister ship? We had passed the Westerdam in open water south of Icy Strait in 1994, and were close enough that two crew members were on the sky deck using HTs to talk to the guys on the Westerdam. But no whistle blasts. Anybody know? Thanx.

[jasl]

We have been on HAL ships that passed eachother and a "greeting" was exchanged. I always find it fascinating to pass another ship, although it has not happened all that often during our 40 plus cruises.
Here is an interesting comment from Bill Miller, a maritime historian and lecturer about your subject: “The Michelangelo and the Raffaello often used to pass one another at sea, in mid Atlantic, and this always caused great excitement. It made for special memories for the passengers,” recalled Giancarlo Roccatagliata, a former maitre’d with the long gone Italian Line. We met later, on a cruise to China. “When the ships passed one another, there would be horns blowing and balloons and flares and lots of waving. It was a kind of great show. The ships would be traveling in opposite directions at a combined speed of well over 50 knots!”

[sail7seas]

We have been in ports with other ships in the fleet and no horns or whisltes or greetings of any sort when the first ship would sail away.

Other times, it has been wonderful fun with the loads of waving and tooting and fun.

Maybe it depends upon the Captain??

I've noticed some are more 'active' with the ships horn/whistle than others.

I love when they make all sorts of noise when we leave port. I find it thrilling.

[tomc]

I've seen the crew members get all excited and talking to their equals on the other ship via radio. They got a big kick out of it. But I did not see/hear anything else (whistles, etc) from the ship. I don't remember where we were at the time, but it could have been a place where a lot of noise would have been bothersome to people on shore -- especially if it's on a run (Alaska) where this happens a lot.

Flares and whistles at night would be quite a sight, although they'd have to be pretty colorful or you'd have every ship within 20 miles steaming to your aid. "The ship is sending up white rockets, sir." "Oh, they're probably just company signals; let me know if you see anything unusual." "They've stopped sending up rockets and seem to have disappeared, sir."

[iceman93]

Way back in my memory banks I do recall that there is standard maritime procedure regarding horn/whistle blasts. As an example, the three long blasts could mean "I'll be passing to your starboard" with the three blasts in return saying "Okay", then the one blast back and forth simply acknowledges the communication.

If I was less lazy I would Google to find the translation of the various short and long blast patterns, but I'm sure someone else will step up and do that! ;)

[lougee1043]

dont recall ships ever signalling each other by horns or flares --- i would be a buck that the communicate by radio discussing sea conditions - winds and the like

[sail7seas]

...and e-mail, and cell phones :) where possible :) and blackberries.........

Gone are the days of flags being used for communication!!!

[BJane]

Although I've experienced several ship to ship salutes over the years, the most memorable was in the late 1980s. We were sailing on RCI's old Sun Viking which carried only 725 passengers and the huge (for that era) Sovereign of the Seas was brand new. She overtook us at sea and the salute was exchanged. No one on our ship, including staff and crew had seen her before, so it caused a lot of excitement. There were so many people out on the starboard decks to watch this large ship go by that it's a wonder we didn't topple over!

[arzz]

In my experience the Carnival ships can be counted on to make enough noise for a whole fleet! But, by the same token, I do enjoy the excitement of a few exchanged blasts on sail away --

[dakrewser]

Last year when we were on the Oosterdam anchorded off Puerto Vallarta, the Prinsendam (which had been docked) was leaving port and sailed completely around us while tooting its horn a few times. It did appear to be a "personal thing" rather than some maritime tradition!

[SDHALFAN]

Gone are the days of flags being used for communication!!!

Oh Judy,

You brought back even more memories. I grew up in England and was a Girl Guide (Girl Scout in the U.S.). Being a Girl Guide I was taught how to signal using flags (semaphore). I can still remember how to do A through E, but after that I'm stumped. So if the ship is going down then I'm not going to be of much help - maybe I had better brush up on that particular (or is it peculiar?) talent.

Thanks for mentioning semaphore, I had almost forgotten all about it.

Valerie:)

[SaltwaterTwo]

I hope they werre not saluting each other! There are rules of the road that apply to all ships. Here is the one regarding the whistle.

Rules of the Road (International)
Rule 34

When vessels are in sight of one another, a power-driven vessel under way, when maneuvering as authorized or required by these Rules, shall indicate that maneuver by the following signals on her whistle:


one short blast to mean "I am altering my course to starboard";
two short blasts to mean "I am altering my course to port";
three short blasts to mean "I am operating astern propulsion"

[SDHALFAN]

Flares and whistles at night would be quite a sight, although they'd have to be pretty colorful or you'd have every ship within 20 miles steaming to your aid. "The ship is sending up white rockets, sir." "Oh, they're probably just company signals; let me know if you see anything unusual." "They've stopped sending up rockets and seem to have disappeared, sir."

That sounds like a "Titanic/Californian (Leyland Liner) moment" to me.

Valerie;) :D

[M.S JAZO]

It happen 2 times on Carnival for us. Once in St Thomas with us on Carinival Legend and the other ship Paradise, and again in NYC, also us on Carnival Legend and Carnival Victory passing us, We were sailing into the harbour and Carnival Victory was sailing out, It was nice, i got it on video, with Statue of Liberty in the backround.

[cruznon]

Two years ago, off the coast of Mexico, on the Carnival Spirit, the CD informed us that the Spirit's sister ship, the Pride, would be passing us. Passengers were encouaged to be on deck to wave, cheer,etc. We watched the Pride approach and the ships passed at close range. Both ships blaring repeated horn blasts as passengers on each ship waved and cheered. Cameras clicked and whirled away! It was quite memorable!

[sailorbill]

Ships should never sound greetings if it might confuse other shipping in the area.

Another common ships horn signal is that which is sounded when a ship is changing station, meaning getting underway from being tied to a pier or from being anchored. One long blast means changing station. If the ship backs away from the pier, then three short blasts should follow the one long blast.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I think it really depends on the captain. There have been times when we have passed ships of other cruise lines and there have been "greetings" exchanged. Then other times - nothing.

[Randyk47]

I recall just two times that I've been on a ship and there was an exchange of horn "salutes". The first was on the Ryndam back in 1995 in Nassau with the old Westerdam and they saluted each other as the Ryndam left port. The second was just this past February when the Volendam and the Noordam, on her maiden revenue vogage, were together in St Thomas at Crown Bay. The Volendam saluted the Noordam as we pulled away from the dock and the Noordam responded. They actually got into a little "horn ditty" that went beyond the 3-blast salute. Apparently though not all lines do this all the time. We were in Georgetown on the Celebrity Galaxy and the Summit was anchored close by. I can't remember which ship left first that afternoon but there was no exchange of horns. Of course there were 3-4 other ships at anchor in Georgetown that day so they may have decided it was a bit crowded or might be confusing with that many ships around.

[Atomica]

Last year on the Oosterdam's Pacific Northwest cruise, we were in Astoria along with the Radiance of the Seas, and both ships got into a little horn-sounding competition. It was really cool, with pax on both ships waving to each other.

[jhannah]

Only once do I recall a salute between ships. We were in Stockholm a few years ago aboard the Regal Princess. We were casting off lines when the A'Rosa Blu entered the port. These two ships are identical twins, except for paint. It was quite fun to hear the captains salute one another.

[crystal808]

In April I was on the Seabourn Legend (104 cabins) and we were docked in the So. Caribbean next to a "huge" RCI ship (relatively speaking!). We pulled away from the pier, and our captain blew the Legend's "tenor" horns in salute; the RCI responded with the same salute, albeit in a considerably more "bass" reply; everyone on board was laughing at the difference of the pitches of the horns! Then another blast from the Legend, followed by another reply from the RCI...even more laughter!

As the RCI ship was still docked, I assume it must be up to the captain(s)!

Paul :D

[Spender Nui]

It used to be the junior ship saluted the flagship/senior ship of the same flag/country and she returned the salute. It seems to be more of a courtesy with many other lines today.

[Grumpy1]

Last year when we were on the Oosterdam anchorded off Puerto Vallarta, the Prinsendam (which had been docked) was leaving port and sailed completely around us while tooting its horn a few times. It did appear to be a "personal thing" rather than some maritime tradition!A FEW times, Dave?.. They exchanged toots for several minutes as Prinsendam circled Oosterdam at anchor... I think I even heard "shave and a haircut... two bits" in there somewhere.:D

[ryansmemom]

Last November we were on the Veendam and at one of our port stops, we had 9 in 14 days, we were docked with the Maasdam and the QMII. As the ships left port, they all conversed with one another using their whistles and horns. It was quite entertaining. They carried on for quite a while and seemed to be enjoying themselves tremendously.

We enjoyed it from our verandah.


Linda

[boomerSexyK]

last Nov. in Nassau a Disney ship pulled up alongside at the pier. Their horn played "When you wish upon a star...". In response the Celebrity ship we were on sounded a little plain...))

[gizmo]

This has happened many times when I was on a ship. The best was when a Windstar ship circled around us while we were waiting for tenders to come back from Soufriere, St. Lucia. It was lots of fun with the horns blowing and lots of people were on deck on both ships waving to each other. :)