the.com/middle watch
The graveyard shift's nautical ancestor, when the sea tests who can stay awake.
means The watch aboard ship running from midnight to 4 a.m., when the crew on duty keeps the vessel running through the dead of night.
from From the old nautical system of dividing the day into watches — typically four-hour shifts — so that no sailor stood guard endlessly. 'Middle' simply marks its place: the watch that straddles the middle of the night, sitting between the first watch and the morning watch. 'Watch' itself comes from Old English 'wæcce,' a keeping-awake, kin to 'wake' and 'awake' — for to watch was, at root, to stay awake and guard.
- clock
- Runs midnight to 4 a.m. aboard ship
- nickname
- Called the graveyard watch for good reason
- bell count
- Marked by ringing ship's bell every half hour
- crew toll
- Worst shift for fatigue and lapses
- tradition
- Centuries old in Royal Navy watch systems
hms bounty mutiny — occurred during middle watch on april 28, 1789, when fletcher christian and crew seized control
uss indianapolis sinking — ship torpedoed july 30, 1945 during middle watch, over 880 sailors died