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Show Originof the Dog Watch. N (Philadelphia Record.) The "dog watch" on shipboard is ' either of the short spells from 4 to 6 o'clock in the evening or from 6 to 8 to break the monotony of the regular four-hour watches, so that the same men will not stand watch during the same hours every day. If, however, you should ask the most nautical person of your acquaintance, or, indeed, all the nautical people you know, why this is so called, you would probably find them unable to tell you. The true answer is this: Dog watch is a corruption of dodge watch. The dog watch was introduced to prevent the same men 'from always keeping watch the sama hours of the day; hence on these occasions the sailors are said to dodge the routine, or to be doing dodge watch. |