Heaving Navy guns

SIR – The origin of the encouragement “two, six, heave” (Letters, December 12) lies in the drill for manhandling a muzzle-loading gun on the deck of a British warship.

Every man had a specific role – to load, swab out and so on – and was numbered for ease of reference. Crew members two and six would be required to ensure the gun was hauled “close up” to the gun port once the order “two, six, heave” was given by the gun captain.

The phrase remains part of the folk memory of the Royal Navy, despite advances in gunnery technology.

Cdr Ian Whitehouse RN (retd)

St Tudy, Cornwall

SIR – My father, who was in RAF Coastal Command during the war, told me that the origin of “two, six, heave” was the opening of large sliding hangar doors – two men at the end and six along the side.

Patrick Firebrace

London N1

SIR – I understand that this call originates in the practice of rewarding ordinary seamen in the 17th and 18th centuries for carrying out some particularly strenuous chore such as stepping new masts or mounting cannon, and would apply to both the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy.

Two and six refers to the cost of a firkin of ale. Half a crown (or two shillings and sixpence) was required to persuade the sailors of those days to do anything in unison.

The practice was discontinued after “bad ale” caused seamen to “heave” over the side on an increasing number of occasions.

Subsequently “two, six, heave” became a derogatory comment on the beer sold in ale houses throughout the major seaports until replaced by the rum ration.

Robert Grindal

Reading, Berkshire

SIR – Bernard Walton (Letters, December 12) asks where the call of “one, two, three, lift” came from. All I can say is that it definitely did not come from the Army.

In my time, I had a sergeant who became unreasonably upset whenever a squaddie incautiously guided: “On three: one, two, three, lift.”

It ought to have just been “one, two, lift”, as “one, two, three, lift” would properly be “on four”. This mattered a great deal to our man of precision, and whenever he heard the call he’d angrily demand that we carry our load all the way back to where it came from and start over.

Robert Frazer

Salford, Lancashire