Bells

[Anav]

WHAT IS SHIP'S BELL TIME?
by Captain's Nautical Supplies

When a ship is underway at sea it is necessary to man the essential operating stations such as the navigation bridge and engine room 24 hours a day. To accomplish this, the ship’s crew is divided into “watches” which rotate being on duty or “on watch” in shifts usually four hours long.

In the sailing ship era before the development of mechanical clocks the passage of each 4-hour watch was marked with an hourglass which ran 30 minutes. Each half hour, when the glass was turned over, the ship’s bell was struck. Over time a traditional pattern of striking the bell in couplets, or pairs of strikes, developed which added a strike each half hour, thus:

Using an example of a watch beginning at noon:

Noon 8 bells (A new watch comes on duty)
12:30 1 bell
1:00 2 bells
1:30 3 bells
2:00 4 bells
2:30 5 bells
3:00 6 bells
3:30 7 bells
4:00 8 bells (The watchstanders are relieved by the next watch and go below to rest)
4:30 1 bell (The pattern starts over)


A person standing watch could tell by listening to the bells where he was in his watch and how long it would be before the next watch came on deck. Also, if the strike as an even number of bells, it was on the hour. If an odd number of bells, that it was the half hour, and which half hour it was. As mechanical clocks were developed this bell pattern was transferred into ship’s bell clocks

[Capt P]

I thought thats how it worked but thanks for clearing it up.

[Attila57]

Thx for this nice info. Now bell time is really clear.

Attilio

[Old Salt]

Don't forget the dog watches

[Anav]

These were just the bells.

[Capt P]

I was a shift worker in the Army for 1`5 years. To me this would be 6/2, 6/2,6/3. Tahts what I worked for years

[The Cowman]

Were there 3 sets of watch crews then? ...or two overworked sets?

[Anav]

Most ships operated with two watch sections. very few have three.
today's submarine uses three.