What do the chimes on a Seth Thomas marine (boat) clock represent?

Question

They do not represent the time of day and they seem to chime more on the half hour.

Answer 1

they represent the shift changes .... and time on watch.. The use of the bells to mark the time stems from the period when seamen (1) could not afford a personal time piece (i.e. - a watch) and (2) even if they could, they had no idea on how to tell time with such an instrument. The bells mark the hours of the watch in half-hour increments. The seamen would know if it were morning, noon, or night. Each watch* is four hours long and the bells are struck thus: ==== you need to google +++ time of ships watch +++ or explaining ships bells +++ these clocks are for telling the time of the day == your statement "" they do not represent the time of day "" is not correct be cause you don't understand this antiquated method of the four hour system of telling time on the seas ... Look for a chart that will display the 4-hour watch ....



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Answer 2

In the olden days ships had an hourglass with a big bell hanging next to it. The hourglass was for half an hour, and it was actually used to time an 8-hour watch, NOT time of day. When the hourglass ran out, someone would ring the bell and turn the hourglass over. The first time was 1 bell, the second 2 bells, and so forth, and at 8 bells the watch changed.



It's all explained here:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_bell

Answer 3

boat clocks used to chime in accord with the watches that sailor's stood. a watch [being on duty at your watch standing post, not a wristwatch] was four hours long and a bell chimed or was rung each half hour, thus equaling eight bells in all for each watch.



the half hours were numbered consecutively -- one bell mean you'd been on watch one half hour, two bells mean you'd been on one hour, etc.



thus, the half hour bells would be one, three, five, and seven. these would occur at 830, 930, 1030 and 1130 in the forenoon watch [the forenoon watch is from 800 to 1200 ship's time]

Answer 4

Seth Thomas Marine Clocks