Shipshape

Life on board a naval ship:

Sajitha Prematunge and Anushka Nanayakkara reporting from Trincomalee

Never have we felt more proud than when we boarded one of SL Navy's ships and never have we felt so distraught as, when we left it. It was indeed novel to us, who visited a naval ship for the first time that ladies were treated with such respect. Ladies are saluted whenever they board or disembark from a naval ship by all officers on deck.

If you haven't noticed already there's a discernible difference between the 'salutes' of the three forces and the police.

The police salute is one with the whole palm exposed, Air force and Army salute with a slight curve of the palm and last but by no means the least, the good old Navy, adopts a concealed palm - a horizontal salute.

There is an interesting story behind the uniqueness of the Navy salute. Sailors continuously have to work with dirt and grime, since all ships require tediously unrelenting maintenance and repairing. Consequently, in the old days the Naval salute evolved into a distinct form of salute, with a covered palm, in order to conceal the dirt and grime covered palms of the sailors.

Talking of ships with a constant need to be in 'shipshape', we learned that this is one of the very reasons why a ship is addressed as a 'She'. Moreover ships have a swaying motion that resembles a lady-like walk.

Another reason, believe it or not, is because the bottom part of a ship is always wet! But it's believed that a ship is addressed as 'she' mainly because the sailors respect it as they would their mothers. They spend, sometimes weeks at a time, on the ship, during which the ship becomes their only home.

Being months at sea a whole new ship-culture is born. One of the most unique phenomena is the 'Equator Crossing'.

Whenever a ship crosses the equator for the first time, a truly peculiar set of rituals are adhered to by all on board, where all sailors and officers alike, dress in costumes, with one officer dressed as King Neptune, the god of the sea with three other officers dressed as his queen and two daughters.

All participants are given a mixture called 'nectar' and are bathed in turmeric water. Celebrations go on for hours on Navy ships in Sri Lanka but in foreign countries are extended up to a full week.

King Neptune calls for a state assembly and all on board flock around him. Then he wishes the ship and its' passengers well. Everyone who takes part receives a certificate signed by King Neptune himself.

Weird? well wait till you hear about the terminology of the seamen. The bottom of the sea is referred to as Davy Johns' Locker and toilets are referred to as heads. There is yet another intriguing story behind this too. In ancient ships there were no bathrooms and when ever a sailor wanted to relieve himself he would do so in to a bag and throw it out a port hole. To avoid unnecessary unpleasantries by way of a collision with a 'bag', the sailor throwing it, would yell 'heads'.

Yet another fascinating thing of the Navy is the 'Boatswain's call'. The Navy possesses the most interesting and disciplined schedule one could encounter and there is a call - a piping system - for each of the main activities.

There are more activities in the schedule than one could go in to detail: but there are quite a few interesting ones. "Waikey, Waikey wake up" is the lashing up call for all naval hands.

At the break of dawn, sleep is interrupted by the eerie piping which sounds like 'Somapala Nagitapang' - a past young cadet's joke - accompanied by dogs howling to the same tune.

Next is the out pipe for PT when all the training cadets gather in one place for physical training. Sick parade out pipe and sick parade fall in is basically for the cadets who are sick and is physically unfit to engage in PT for the day.

"One minute to colour sir" is another interesting part of the Naval schedule, during which all naval hands pay respect by hoisting the national flag along with the anthem.

Hands for supper is to have their final meal for the day. Generally, though we civilians take dinner naval personnel, call it supper because, clock wise, it's earlier than dinner.

What was excruciating to leave behind was the renowned Navy hospitality. From the Admiral to Midshipman hospitality was at its most enchanting. What we observed in the Navy base is that their way of life is exceptional which is generally not shared with or encountered in normal society.

It creates life long friendships, tremendous amounts of fun and sport, sundry experiences which one could rarely get to experience in the outside world. For the Naval hands nothing is beyond their scope of courage and determination.

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