Our navigation software has an option in the Settings, “Play Ship’s Bells”. Of course I clicked it on, because it is a salty, boaty affectation, and I’m all about that stuff. It has gone from being an affectation to something that is quite useful. I like having a sound signal for the time, without having to look at a timepiece.
Ships Bells are how time was kept onboard ship in the old days. A ship’s day actually runs from noon to noon- it officially started with the captain or other officer (the sailing master, or maybe one of the mates) taking the noon sight with a sextant- this marked the sun’s highest point in the sky for the ships location, and with some calculation, gave them their latitude. The captain would shoot his noon sight, determine the latitude, and then give the order to “Sound Ship’s Noon” (four bells). The time was kept for the rest of the day with a sand hour-glass.
Of course, this was all before the advent of synchronized clocks and standard times, atomic clocks and Universal Time Coordinate. It has always been fascinating to me that every sailing ship was keeping their own time, living in their own discrete little “time bubble”, based on their astronomical sights.
The 24 hour day is split into six parts of four hours. Noon is “four bells”, one pm is “one bell”, two pm is “two bells”, and so on. Once the four pm “four bells sounded, the cycle would start over- five pm was “one bell”, six pm = “two bells” and so on.
On the hour, the actual sound of a “bell” was a double strike of the clapper. Cick here for an example of One Bells (and never mind that the title says it is Two Chimes, that is wrong):
On the half hour, the double strike is followed by a single strike of the clapper, so 2:30 would sound like “ding ding, ding ding <pause> ding”.
So our navigation software, running on the laptop just below the companionway hatch, is set to play Ships Bells, and it has become a comforting sound as we sail. A couple of days ago we were getting thrashed by the weather on Penobscot Bay, and it was nice to hear the hours and half-hours rung out- a reminder that time was passing and we would eventually be back in harbor , not getting bounced and blown around like rag-dolls.
And so while here in Boothbay Harbor, which is one of the saltiest places in salty old Maine, I was tickled to experience this pretty little church across the harbor:
Like most churches with a bell tower, they chime out the hours and half hours. But do they do a Westminster Chime, or even more boring, just chime out the hours, one through twelve. No, they do not.
Yep, here in salty old Boothbay, this church chimes out Ships Bells.
That is very rich sailing lore. The New England coastline looks beautiful. Thanks for sharing the experience. I miss the ocean. 🌊
Very cool post.