Boatswain's pipe
Encyclopedia : B : BO : BOA : Boatswain's pipe
-->A boatswain's pipe or boatswain's call (pronounced "Bosun") is a whistle that is made of a tube, called the barrel, that directs air over a grape-sized metal sphere with a hole cut in the top. The player opens and closes the hand over the hole to change the pitch.The historical use of the boatswain's call was as a signaling device on a ship. Because of its high pitch, it could be heard over the activities of the crew and bad weather. It is now used in the traditional color -, sunset and other ceremonies of several navies, sometimes combined with other auditivefeatures: ruffles and flourishes or even a gun salute.
It is also the Official badge of the Quartermaster in the Sea Cadet Corps
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
