victorian221b | Silent communication for Holmes and Watson

stonepicnicking_okapi has a ficlet where Holmes and Watson use Morse code to communicate without making a sound, drumming their fingers on each other’s body parts. The idea fascinated me so much that I did some research. It seems that Morse code has a resurgence in popularity due to possibilities it offers to people with disabilities: e.g. a blind person can type using the dot-and-dash keyboard. There is a Google project which helps to learn Morse code within a few hours.

So, it was all very interesting—letters represented by combinations of short and long signals, or dits and dahs. I plunged into studies and soon could create short messages, but then it occurred to me: how do you tap in Morse? There are no short and long taps. All taps sound the same. This is when a scene from Current War came to mind. There Thomas Edison’s little son knocks a spoon against his tea saucer, sending a funny message no one in the room can understand except his parents who taught him Morse code.

The boy uses a double knock for a long signal and a single knock for a short signal.

E. g. the letter ‘H’ is four short signals, and ‘O’ is three long ones.

H O L M E S

.... _ _ _ ._.. _ _ . ...

If Watson were to drum his fingers against the back of Holmes's hand, it would be something like this:

Tap tap tap tap (H)/ tap-tap tap-tap tap-tap (O)/ tap tap-tap tap tap (L)/ tap-tap tap-tap (M)/ tap (E)/ tap tap tap (S)

It's clear that rhythm is important for the recipient to be able to distinguish between letters. It takes a lot of practice, but it's fun!