Taps

Over the last few years I have been developing a list of my old shipmates from 1969 through 1973. The list is on the Internet. We had a reunion in 2003 and plan to continue the tradition. One of the tasks related to maintaining the crew list is notifying my shipmates that a few of the crew are no longer with us. Most of them died from natural causes or traffic accidents. One of our shipmates was killed by a terrorist’s car bomb.

Our fallen shipmates are on the list with the rest of us. I was looking for a fitting way to mark those names and started researching the history of “Taps.” You have all heard taps played on a bugle at a funeral or memorial service. Outside of the military, that’s about the only time taps is heard. Those of you that were in the military know taps as occurring at 10:00 PM and calling for “lights out” every day.

When I was aboard ship we heard taps played on the boatswain’s pipe (it sounds like a whistle). After taps was sounded on the boatswain’s pipe the Petty Officer of the watch would announce “Now taps, taps, lights out, all hands in their racks, now taps.” It was also customary to vary that announcement a bit now and then.

Every so often one of the more colorful Petty officers of the watch would say “Now taps, taps, lights out, all hands in “their own” racks.” I remember the first time that I heard that version of taps. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. That was long before “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Back then it was “don’t even think about it.”

As it turns out, taps is a very old signal. While there is no clear history, taps is believed to be a derivation of the French term “tattoo” which was the signal to cork all wine bottles at 9:00 PM and cease drinking. In English, the French word for the corks used in that case was “tap.” The order “Tap To” ended up being pronounced as “Tattoo.”

You might be aware of three more spoken signals that originated with the French that mariners still use worldwide. May Day, the ultimate spoken distress call is French. Pan Pan, used to announce a situation of urgency and Securite’, relating to safety of navigation are both French as well.

The predecessor to taps was the call to “extinguish lights” at the end of the day. The best history on the bugle call that we hear today is that a civil war general, with the help of his bugler, wrote the melody in 1862. The general thought it fitting to play a melody at the end of the day to honor his men, thereby replacing the “extinguish lights” signal. That melody is what we are all used to hearing today. 

Taps originally had no lyrics. Over time, various version s of lyrics have developed. There is no known original or official version of the lyrics. A common theme in most versions is the phrase “Day is done, gone the sun.” As the sun sets on our men and women in military service, we play taps to honor their sacrifice.

Until next time, I wish you clear skies, fair winds, and calm seas!