The Liveaboard Life - The Ship's Clock

The Liveaboard Life - The Ship's Clock

January 2004: In the saloon of Silverheels III we have a lovely brass ship's clock that strikes on the 1/2 hour.

The 1913 Everyman's Encyclopedia says: "a day is divided into watches of 4 hrs each" (Yeah, that would be about enough in the North Atlantic or Toronto harbour). " Every watch is marked off into half-hours by the ringing of a bell, the strokes of which depend on the numbers of half-hours that have elapsed during the watch. Thus 'two-bells' marked by a double stroke, shows that one hour of the watch has expired." So 4 into 24 = 6 watches. 8 bells would be the end of that watch (tot of rum time?)

How do I know which watch it is if I'm snug in my bunk? I guess the cold rum-smelling person would let you know that it's his turn for the warm bunk.

The real difficulty is at night in the long mid-winter darkness when eight bells could mean:

1. It's midnight and I fell asleep at 10:30 on the couch
2. It's 4am and I really don't wanna make that cold barefoot trip to the head...anticipating that frozen toilet seat!
3. It's 8am and I hope it's Saturday or Sunday 'cause I'm really gonna be late for work!
…and finally...
4. It's noon already, and we've got the duvet pulled up over our heads.

Ken and Lynn Silverheels III