Watchstanding regulate the sailors' duty watches and for other purposes (see main article). Unlike civil clock bells, the strikes of a ship's bell do not accord to the number of the hour. Instead, there are eight bells, one for each half-hour of a four-hour watch. Bells would be struck every half-hour, and in a pattern of pairs for easier counting, with any odd bells at the end of the sequence. Watchstanding Watchstanding, or watchkeeping, in nautical terms concerns the division of qualified personnel to operate a ship continuously. On a typical seafaring vessel, be it naval or merchant, personnel keep watch
Pennsylvania Nautical School Pennsylvania Nautical School Pennsylvania Nautical School existed in Pennsylvania, United States, from 1889–1947. In an effort to meet the nation’s demand for trained seamen, the United States Congress passed an Act on June 20, 1874 giving the Secretary of the Navy the authority to provide a naval vessel and instructors for a nautical school to be established at each or any of the ports of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and San Francisco. To that end, the Pennsylvania Nautical School (PNS) was established in 1889 by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and for 58 years trained