Sailors: What is/was your favorite watch to stand?

2020-06-15T17:44:28-04:00

I suppose that sailors who served in the Navy or Merchant Marine might respond differently from those who sailed for pleasure. Maybe we'll find out.

I sailed for pleasure and my favorite as a crew member was the Morning Watch, 0400 to 0800. Sunrises and sunsets are virtually the same, but when your eyes are attuned to the dark, you are much more able to distinguish and appreciate the symphony of hues of the sunrise. It's also, in my experience, the calmest part of the day. The Sun is the engine that drives the weather and it can't disturb your time at sea as much when its shining on the other side of the sea. Funny, but on my one pleasure cruise on a liner, I was up before dawn every morning, sitting on the veranda of the cabin, watching the sunrise.

On those many occasions when I skippered the craft, I usually stood watch after Moon-set. Novice sailors become terribly shy at that time when they can't even see the water around the vessel except maybe in the glow of running lights, and they needed me nearby to calm them.

Response by SSgt Dan Montague made Jun 15 at 2020 6:03 PM

2020-06-15T18:03:34-04:00

As a Marine, we would assist watches when there was a threat. I only stood a few times. I will have to say morning was better. Night time watch was hard. Trying to navigate to your post in absolute darkness, tripping over every cleat and pad eye along the way. Then staring out into complete darkness for a few hours. It wasn't too bad when there was a nice moon out. Calming and peaceful.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jun 16 at 2020 2:37 AM

2020-06-16T02:37:19-04:00

We had the traditional watches only when away from the action. Then I'd prefer the mid and first dog mostly because the brass wasn't around. Less churn for churn's sake. When doing offensive ops, the best we could do was port/starboard. That broke out as 5 on 7 off 7 on 5 off to make the whole day. You actually got to sleep about 4-5 hours a day because everybody was at battle stations most days for gun shoots. One thing for sure, the crew compartments were quiet zones. Doing it for 1-2 months straight took a toll. When we left the coast and headed to Subic or some other port, we went with minimum watch just so you could sleep most of a day straight.