By “Glub-glub”

As long-time readers know, the Washington Ringing Society has been visited in the past by ringers not just of other societies, but of other species, in particular of the amphibian and aquatic varieties. Previous visits have been from frogs and dolphins. This week, we were pleased to be joined by a denizen of the deep, an octopus. Our many-tentacled friend surfaced after hearing about the success of our previous visitors, and so made arrangements to join us for ringing, dinner, and discussion.

Deep undersea ringing is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years, but has been rather static in terms of rings in the last few years. Contrary to lore, the first undersea bells did not come from towers in Atlantis. Rather, the deep sea ringers acquire their bells from scavenging ship’s bells. The great naval battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries often provided full rings of bells in a very narrow geographic area due to the many ships sunk. In these shipwrecks, the bells were viewed as redundant rings, and so moved and rehung.

With peace, and improving technology, there have been fewer losses at sea, and so fewer opportunities to acquire bells. There has been some attempts to raise enough clams to fund new bells, but this has been difficult. Attempts to recast cannon into bells have also proved difficult. The cannon have been dragged to undersea volcanoes and melted down, but casting in an underwater environment has proved difficult, in particular keeping the bell metal pure of imperfections.

Nonetheless, there is still an active and vibrant deep underwater ringing society. Members of the society tend to ring on Octopi – eight – most frequently, but also on Duo-ocotopi –16 -- and Tri-ocotopi – 24. They need to ring on multiples of 8, because they are still swimming while also ringing. If they ring on all 8 at once, they can keep moving in a straight line, however, with fewer than 8, they’re unbalanced and end up going in strange directions. They are quite keen on discussing Duo-octopi methods with the ringers at the Bull Ring in Birmingham, but have had some difficulties navigating the locks of the canals and making it to practice. 

In addition to attempting to attend other practices, the Octopi society would like to encourage members of other societies to submerge and attend theirs. In particular, a special invitation is hereby semaphored to the Submarine Branch of the Royal Navy Guild. Other societies or interested groups are also welcome. Best way is to come by diving bell -- which will not be rung during the outing. The Octopi society will provide the food for the outing, sushi primarily, although kelp is available for vegetarians. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own beer however. If scheduling an outing, please be certain to allow sufficient time for the ascent to the surface to avoid the bends.

Much of the discussion at dinner focused on how the society should be recognized for Central Council purposes. One of the key issues of debate is if the geographical societies included territorial waters. For example, can the Octopi off the coasts of the U.S. join the North American Guild? Non-land rings do not appear to have been envisioned in the by-laws of most societies.

The evening ended with ringing and a goal to have the next meeting with the frogs and/or dolphins as well.

1. Our visitor pulling on sallies.

2. Ed Donnen and visitor reviewing a blue line.

3. Ringing Plain Hunt Octopi with (L-R): Ann Martin, Eddie Martin, Gregory Watson, Quilla Roth.

Other Aquatic References:
Frogs: http://www.cathedral.org/wrs/frogs/index.htm 
Dolphins:  http://www.cathedral.org/wrs/gallery/agm2002/dolphin.htm