Maritime Traditions

Maritime Traditions

Seafarers have some maritime traditions among themselves, and the history of these traditions is as old as human history. It is observed that these traditions change from culture to culture depending on some factors. The biggest reason for these differences can be that the seafarers have different backgrounds and their local cultures. However, despite these differences, some traditions can be considered as common among seafarers. Some of these traditions date back to very ancient history. Heyamola, which seafarers say to motivate each other when they do hard work on the ship, is a well-known common tradition. Usually, this tradition is used when rowing or pulling ropes or opening and extending the pulley.

In ancient times, slaves or sailors always shouted in a similar way to motivate each other. The modern emergence of maritime traditions that are valid today coincides with the period after the age of discoveries. In this article, the basis of some common traditions in sailing and navy is investigated. Information was provided based on researches. The issue of the history of greetings at sea has always been interesting. It is useful to examine the tradition of greetings in maritime. It is a tradition of respect and kindness to greet the two ships while sailing on the sea and continue on their way.


However, salutation was a movement used in ancient traditions to understand the intention of war or peace between the two ships. Those of the 1320s England choose a country that dominates the four seas because they require their ships to lower the glacier sails and show that they accept the domination of their country. This greeting and compliance with the rules of England were considered important for England. The acceptance of Britain's superiority was even more important than taxing these ships. This caused a war between Britain and the Netherlands when it did not greet British ships. 

Sailing period; 

• Sails work aria, 

• On the bands of the rib ropes, 

• There was a greeting. It is a method that first appeared with the Royal Navy in England. 

Respect was important, of course, but this method was mostly used as a sign of goodwill. Because when the ship fired its guns when it entered the port, the situation appeared that the ship was unarmed for a certain period. This was an important indication that the ship was in good faith at the port. He stated that in this procedure, who will give the first salute is important. They interpreted the first greeting. When this salute did not come, he could have to deal with the other side as seriously. This expedition had to give the first salute to the strong side of the weak side.


When a ship enters a port, except during the war, in times of peace, it has become a tradition to greet those here with a cannon shot. When entering the port, first of all, with the first shot, the bow-Gaya sail was made aria, then the jibs were lowered and the sails were collected after the end of this special ceremony. The opposite of these procedures was carried out at the port exit. In other words, a whole process would be followed in a way that the first operation would be done last. While it was saluted by a flagship at the time, it was customary to collect gallants or topmast sails if they were open. This feature was not made even to any high ranking officer who was not a sailor. As the number of greetings became widespread, the number of cannons thrown by the ship increased according to the rank of the greeted person.

In practice, a single number of ball shots were generally used, and a maximum of 7 ball shots was used. Although the reason for this is not known exactly, it is thought to be caused by a superstition among sailors. The number 7 was special and was thought to attract mysterious powers and luck. In 1818, when the president of America came to see a warship, a total of 21 cannons were fired. This number represented the 21 states that existed at that time. In the past, salutation with a ball shot meant waste in a way, but in very special cases, a ball shot was saluted. When the news of the decision about the death of King Charles at the downs came to the fleet, the fleet commander ordered the guns of all the ships within his body to fire. All other commanders followed this order in the same way. Later on, it was compulsory to shoot the ball at important events on days and dates and national ceremonies.

The entire sea crew accompanied the ceremony that followed the cannon firing. This special greeting ceremony was called “Çimariva” and all crew members were lined up regularly during the ship or on the sails. These ships stood in this way. This tradition also had specific reasons. First of all, it was necessary to arrange the deck entrance and exit of the crew. The reason for this was to make the passage of senior officers easy. In the old times, the only way to get on the deck of a ship was the devil's cross. When an officer with a high rank would land on the deck, crew members were lined up on both sides of the steps and hung on the ropes. In this way, they would give way to the senior officer. This tradition is still practiced and the origin of this tradition dates back to Queen Elizabeth I.

What was the tradition of the greeting of the sailors? The greeting with the right hand on the forehead has passed through the army. In the middle ages, when the knights on the horse met, they opened the helmet of their helmets to both see the other's face and show that they did not have a gun in their hands, and this movement turned into a salute in time. After the Great Discovery period, he frequently revolted on the ships and during these revolts, the crew in the navy made this salute to show the officers that they had no weapons. The salute, which was shown by showing the palm in the early days, started to be applied in the form of touching the palm of the palm with a 45-degree angle because of the traces of tar or oil left on the palm during the work of the sailors. This salute has turned into a modern sailor salute over time.

The number of equipping the ships from the very beginning was also very old. This piece was made on special days. Nowadays, this equipment is made with sign pennants in a special order according to the color of the ship. It is a recent time that the international sign flags have a modern appearance. However, the use of streamer dates back to very old times. From ancient times to the end of the middle ages, old and primitive flags were used for communication between ships. In fact, in the old times, every pirate had a separate flag that indicated his own identity. This flag was drawn to the post along with the warning shot. The aim was to warn the other party without fighting, to surrender. If the ship did not surrender after this warning, the black flag would be lowered and a red flag with a war flag would be replaced. This red flag has been an ongoing flag since ancient times. It was reported that anyone would be attacked and captured without compromise.

The number of greeting with starboard is based on recent history. This date dates back to the mid-19th century. The ship, which entered a foreign port in the 1850s, would withdraw its banners to greet the countries they visited. In return, they would expect port officials to salute in the same way. Although it was not an official practice to take the given greeting, it was considered a great disrespect to not take a given greeting. Even in December 1857, a diplomatic crisis arose due to port officials who did not respond to the salute of the British ship sailing in the Persian Gulf. Iranian officials also apologized, stating that such an application was not in their custom.

It is not exactly known when and where the application of half-mast of the banners started for the first time in any mourning or national days of mourning. Nevertheless, the records of the oldest event coincide with the year 1612 when looking at the records at hand. With the killing of a native of the English ship captain trying to find a passage from the north between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, the ship's crew lowered the flags as a mourning. Those who saw that they were coming back understood that a person had died on the ship. This event is an important proof that that practice was frequently used at that time. When the detail of the tradition is considered, the flag is pulled down the flag to make room for an invisible death flag. This situation was widely used at that time. Launching ships is also an important tradition dating back to very old times. The traditions of launching ships in different cultures are also very different, but they are not found in some common points. The most common point is the dedication of these ceremonies to the gods. When the Egyptians and Babylonians landed on the sea, they devoted their gods. The Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, drank wine in honor of the god and poured the rest over the bow. During these ceremonies, a name was given to the ship. Naming the ship was actually an important part of the ceremony. These traditions from ancient times continued to live in the later ages. While a ship to be launched in Europe in the medieval period was slipping from the sled, whoever ruled the ceremony, he would dump the rest of the glass in the glass or the glass into the deck or bow.srespect to not take a given greeting. In fact, a diplomatic crisis occurred in December 1857 due to port officials who did not respond to the salute of the British ship sailing in the Persian Gulf. Iranian officials also apologized, stating that such an application was not in their custom.

At the end of the ceremony, the empty glass would be thrown into the sea and whoever finds this glass will be the glass. When the number of ships produced in the shipyards started to increase, the number of glasses thrown into the sea was also high. Therefore, since the number of glasses that can be used in the next ceremony has decreased, the glasses thrown into the sea at previous ceremonies have started to be collected by nets. At the end of the 17th century, the number of pouring wine from the glass was abandoned, and instead of breaking the champagne bottle on the bow. The British Royal Navy has another practice that continues today. It is a tradition of warships in the port to ask for entertainment from each other on special days or anniversaries. After the work was over, the crew came together to drink gin tonic. The reason for this application was different. The reason for the application was based on fighting malaria.

In some countries in Europe, while private yachts were being built, money was stored at the bottom of its mainmast. This menstruation has continued for centuries. The basis of this tradition lies in the hereafter consciousness or beliefs of ancient times. In ancient times, sailors celebrated when they crossed the 30th parallel and in front of the Strait of Gibraltar. Today, the navies of some countries celebrate in this way after making their first equator transition. These celebrations are called Border Crossing Ceremony. In general, popular maritime traditions are like this.