A question about time keeping on ocean going vessels?

Question

I know that accurate time keeping was a vital part of early navigation and still is where dead reckoning is concerned.

What I am looking for is, how did the system for announcing the time come about, as in "eight bells" or "six bells", etc.

How does the system work?

Answer 1

The naval tradition of ringing bells to mark the changing of the watch dates from the era before reliable and affordable pocket watches. The ringing of the bell was a simple way of informing the entire crew of the time.

The exact origin of the tradition is uncertain. It has been suggested that it was connected with the early use of a sand-timer to track time aboard ship. This would need to be turned every half an hour and, the theory goes, the junior crew member responsible for this would ring a bell to confirm this had taken place.

Whatever the origin, ringing the bells is an established part of historic naval tradition.

The 24 hours of the day were divided into six watches each of four hours duration. Bells were rung to indicate the progress of the watch. Thirty minutes after the start of the watch, one bell would be rung. Thirty minutes later, two bells, etc. This continued until the end of the watch when eight bells would be rung - eight half hours making, of course, the four hour duration of the watch. The eight bells signified that the watch was due to be relieved.

This tradition led to the saying "Eight bells and all's well", indicating that the watch had passed peacefully.

(USN, retired)

Answer 2

One bell represents a one-half hour unit of time during any given watch.

Each crew is divided into three watches so that the ship is fully manned 24 hours a day.

A sea watch is 4 hours on duty, and 8 hours off duty. Port watchs are 8 hours on duty and 16 hours off duty.

While modern ships do have bells, they are more ceremonial than anything else.

Dead reckoning is based on relative positioning of know stars, and a sailor's knowledge of sea and tide conditions.

Time is used in celestial navigation, and that involved using a sextand to determine a ship's location at sea.

Time on modern ships - now days - comes from satilite navigation. In days before satilites time was kept (and still is used for backup and veritification) by a chronometer.

Answer 3

it works well if you know what time of day it is:
2 bells is 1,5, or 9 o'clock (can be am or pm)
4 bells is 2,6, or 10 " " "
6 bells is 3,7, or 11 " " "
8 bells is 4,8, or 12 " " "

1 bell is on each half hour (you have to remember which hour)