Understanding the Ship's Bell Strike and Code...

Telling time by ship's bells has a romantic background that goes back hundreds of years. It is based on the workday routine of the ship's crew. A ship at sea requires a constant watch throughout the whole twenty-four hours of the day. To divide the duty, the day is broken up into six watches of four hours each and the crew into three divisions, or watches. Each division of the crew stands two four hour watches a day. In order to rotate the duty so that a division does not have the same watch day in and day out.

 

The 4 to 8 watch in the afternoon is divided into two watches
known as dog watches. Here's how they are set up:
THE FIRST WATCH............... 8 P.M. to Midnight
THE MID-WATCH.................. Midnight to 4 A.M.
THE MORNING WATCH........ 4 A.M. to 8 A.M.
THE FORENOON WATCH..... 8 A.M. to 12 M.
THE AFTERNOON WATCH.... 12 M. to 4 P.M.
THE 1ST DOG WATCH.......... 4 P.M. to 6 P.M.
THE 2ND DOG WATCH.......... 6 P.M. to 8 P.M.
To apprise the crew of the time the ship's bell was struck by the watch officer at half hour intervals. By this method of timekeeping eight bells marks 4, 8 or 12 o'clock.

Ship's Bell Code

8 bells 12:00 4:00 8:00
1 bell 12:30 4:30 8:30
2 bells 1:00 5:00 9:00
3 bells 1:30 5:30 9:30
4 bells 2:00 6:00 10:00
5 bells 2:30 6:30 10:30
6 bells 3:00 7:00 11:00
7 bells 3:30 7:30 11:30
Eight bells denotes time to relieve the watch.
Hours- Even Numbers
Half Hours- Odd Numbers

With a SHIP'S BELL CLOCK you can
hear the time. You do not need to see it.

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