The Bell

No seafaring vessel, no matter how modest, should be without a bell.  It is said that the bell is regarded as an embodiment of the vessel’s soul.

  J.H Roeding reports in his Marine Dictionary, published in Hamburg in 1793, as follows: The bell hangs in a special bracket which sailors call the “gallows”, on merchantmen, it stands forward of the windlass and serves at the same time as a pall bit. To swing the bell it has an iron arm to which a rope is attached.  

Here is the story of this bell...

Shortly after Warren passed away, I found the bell in his workshop.  Unfortunately, it was missing the gallows (the part screwed to the bulkhead).   I looked high and low.  I took the bell into my mother-in-law’s house and described the part to her as best I could because I didn’t know what it looked like my self.  She hadn’t seen it.  I would pick up this bell and snoop around Warren’s workshop from time to time…looking for the gallows.  I even fancied making one my self from mahogany, but my versions split under the weight of the bell.  I had all I could do to keep from going nuts!  This went on for several years.

One day I noticed that when I attached my accessories cable to the boat battery, there was a minor spark.  With everything (lights, radio, etc.) turned off, there was still a spark.  This explained why my battery was always dying, something was draining it.  With that, I went to the boat one Saturday morning with spools of different colored wire, wire strippers, wire nuts, and everything else I would need to completely re-wire the boat.  I installed a fused switch panel, and a separate panel for the bilge pumps.  After completely re-wiring the “Big MAC” from stem to stern, I went into Warren’s workshop.  I opened a small drawer looking for one last wire nut to complete the job, and there lay the gallows…. go figure that one out.  Maybe Warren wanted me to re-wire the "Big MAC" all along.

The bell is inscribed:

THE BIG MAC

1982

WARREN E. KRUMKE

TALL TIMBERS, MD.

Here’s more bell trivia (like you haven’t read enough already).

A ship’s bell is ‘struck” never rung. There is no such thing as ringing a bell on board ship. 

A ship’s bell has always been considered a trophy of war because more than any other moveable item on board, it represents the ship. 

The bellrope is one of the few “ropes” aboard ship; most ropes being called “lines”.
On German ships the bell rope is called the “Glockensteert” or “bell’s tail.” Only at a later period did it become fashionable to call the bellrope a “lanyard.” Bellropes were skillfully braided and decorated in highly varied patterns, usually with a Turk’s head knot at the end. 

LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS

It is said that if a bell sustains damage, trouble lies ahead for the ship.

If a ship leaves her bell behind in port, misfortune threatens.

It is bad mojo if a ship uses the bell of another vessel.

If a ship is sold and gets a new name, but continues using the same bell with the
original name, don’t worry. All is well. In fact, fortune will smile on the ship and she
can count on prosperous voyages.

During a gale sometimes a ship would roll and heave so much that the clapper would
strike the bell and make appear to ring on its own. This was considered Davy Jones’
doing, announcing the ship’s doom.