boatswain's pipe

American  

noun

1. a high-pitched whistle used by a boatswain for giving signals.

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Example Sentences

Then down the gangplank, to the mournful tweetle of the boatswain's pipe, stepped little Haile Selassie in a sun helmet and a long white cloak.

From Time Magazine Archive

I never care if we are left to our own exertions; but how is it possible for a ship's company to do their best, when they cannot hear the boatswain's pipe?

From Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 by Marryat, Frederick

The boatswain’s pipe sounded, his gruff voice reiterated the order, and the men, who had been grouped together on the forecastle discussing the singular appearance of the weather, sprang to their stations.

From Under the Meteor Flag Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War by Collingwood, Harry

He himself took no repose, sharing the hardships his men were enduring, never failing to come on deck, as they did, at the sound of the boatswain’s pipe.

From Notable Voyagers From Columbus to Nordenskiold by Kingston, William Henry Giles

"Didn't I hear the boatswain's pipe?" asked the principal, surprised to find only a few hands in the waist.

From Down the Rhine Young America in Germany by Optic, Oliver