The Chilean four-masted tall ship CNS Esmeralda is expected to arrive Friday at Pearl Harbor for a port visit — and just about everyone on base will hear about it.

As part of the arrival, a traditional naval gun salute will be exchanged between the Esmeralda and the installation, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said.

“Personnel on the installation may hear gunfire exchanged between the ship and the saluting battery on Ford Island,” the joint base said. “At 8:30 a.m. near Hospital Point, the Esmeralda will initiate the salute. Each shot will be answered shot for shot by (the base), totaling 21 shots fired by each battery.”

Visitors to the Pearl Harbor National Monument and adjacent museums also may hear the gunfire.

The military gun salute is a centuries-old practice for rendering honors, the joint base said. “As a hand salute demonstrated that the renderer of the salute was unarmed, it was customary for a ship entering a friendly port to discharge its cannons to show they were unloaded,” the base said.