Don White wrote:
Gary wrote:

otnmbrd wrote:

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


So what you are saying is it's slang, local terminology?

I have visited many American Ports, most recently Seattle a couple
weeks ago where I took a 100 foot sailing ship up the Chittendam Locks
talking all the way with Seattle traffic and other ships and no-one
said one or two whistle anything.

I thing it must be a very local phrase, certainly not in common use
out here or in Canadian Ports.

Gary



The ships whistle you hear most often in Halifax is when they are
casting off to leave their dock.

From what I understand, we are not talking about actual whistle
signals, but radiotelephone communications.

You won't hear a ship leaving the dock in Halifax getting on the radio
and saying. "I intend one prolonged whistle and three short departure."

Certainly, when I leave my berth (every working day) I sound the signals
and indicate my intentions to the Harbour Authority, as does everyone
else, but I never hear whistles talked about on the radio, by the tugs,
pilots or anyone else.

Gary
PS At home, with my scanner going on all channels, I don't hear that
terminology either. The Straits of Juan de Fuca, right outside my
window is a very busy chunk of water with compulsory pilotage, much tug
traffic and everything else. I would guess 30 freighters/cruise
ships/warships etc a day go by and many more pleasure craft and work boats.