Ship’s bells

How to read it

The day at sea is divided into watches of four hours. A bell is struck every half hour: one bell after the first half hour of a watch, two after the second, and so on up to eight bells when the watch ends.¹ The strokes come in pairs, for easier counting, with any odd stroke at the end.¹

The clock shows the last bell struck, so “three bells in the forenoon watch” covers 9:30 to 10:00 in the morning. Press the bell to hear the current count struck, in your own browser.

Where it came from

On sailing ships the watch was timed with a half-hour sandglass, and the bell was struck each time the glass was turned.¹ Eight bells fall at 4, 8 and 12 o’clock.¹

The watch from 16:00 to 20:00 is split into two short “dog watches”, so that the rota shifts each day and the crew can eat an evening meal.¹ Navies differ over how the bells are counted in the dog watches; this clock uses the plain count, which runs straight on through them.

Sources

1. Ship’s bell (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)