Ship's Bell Clock, Traditional Bells.

[MADRIGAL]

They changed after the Nore Mutiny in 1797. 5 bells in the dog watch was the signal for the mutiny to start. Changing the dog watch bells removed the 5 bells.

And, if I am not mistaken, the second dog watch was rung as 1, 2, 3, and then 8 bells at the end when the watch was changed.

 

[PilotWolf]

If anyone's still interested in an iPhone app that'll do ships bells 'correctly', I'm working on one at the moment for my own amusement (a free app) - it's not quite finished, but almost there. I'd be more than happy if someone wanted an early copy and was prepared to give feedback.

As long as it's available outside the UK and can deal with local phone time I'd like to try it out please.

W

 

[capnsensible]

Amaze your friends when they ask you the time and you answer in a pirate accent 'Aarh, just a tidy bit paast three bells o the second dog me andsom' .

 

[ianat182]

Slightly less portable but very audible was the Clock Tower at Warsash which rang ships time and displayed the actual time on its face. I remember as a boy hearing it for ages locally, and it was audible to Hamble too. Years later it was electrified and silenced and the face renewed. It still is part of the village history- Maybe also part of the original Warsash House Estate.

ianat182

 

[Lucy52]

For the geeks on here who build this kind of thing, here is an Arduino project to create an eight bell ships clock.

A Digital Ship's Bell Clock

The article describes the design and construction and the code is available.

If you are so inclined it would save a lot of time and maybe you could improve on it.

 

[Lucy52]

For the Apple users there seems is an app:

How it Works

 

[Halo]

The Hermle ships bell clock is really good but about £460 on eBay. There is a battery one which you should get cheaper. I got the battery one which has been working well since I took the glass off and straightened the second hand which was rubbing on the glass and making the battery run out very quickly