Gary,
G Obviously you haven't visited too many US ports.
The terms "one whistle", "two whistle", "green to green", "red to red" are
frequently used, as are "stbd to stbd", "port to port".
You will mainly find the terms being used by Pilots, tugboat/workboat
operators and as they are self explanatory as to meaning, for a given
situation, it is unlikely that you will find them written down anywhere.
As to who started the usage, it's anyone's guess, but my own feeling is the
tugboats and it progressed from there to Pilots (Many US pilots come from
tugboats).

otn

"Gary" wrote in message
news:HTSyg.269894$Mn5.193877@pd7tw3no...
Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:18:03 GMT, Gary wrote:


I wouldn't clearly understand what a "pass on two whistles" is. I am a
ships captain. What does it mean?


In an meeting situation it means you intend to pass the vessel on your
(and his) starboard side, the reverse of the normal port-to-port
oncoming pass.

I thought this was more or less universally understood, perhaps not,
but then again I am not a ships captain...

In an overtaking situation it also means you intend to leave the other
vessel on your starboard side, their port side.

Interesting, is that written down in some book I could refer to? I have
never encountered this way of speaking on the radio. It sounds archaic
but I would like to read about it somewhere.

Do you have a reference?

In my experience, we have always used colors. Like:

"I will meet you green to green." or

"I'll overtake you on your green side" (not used often, we would normally
say starboard side)

We do use whistle signals but they don't agree with your "pass on two
whistles".

Is that an inland US rules thing?

Gary