Sandglass and Bell

How they kept the time and ordered the watches on ships, before the advent of the reliable everyday clock.

by Keith Muscott

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Up to four kinds of sandglass were kept on board, but the half-minute and the half-hour glasses were the most used: the former to measure boat speed with reference to the log (with knotted line), and the latter, in conjunction with the bells, to regulate life on the ship.

The time was struck on the small bell (as shown), and then repeated by the lookout at the main bell. (Patrick O'Brian has a “senior marine” doing this in his novels.) Each glass was sounded by one stroke of the bell. Each watch of four hours was divided into eight glasses, corresponding to eight bells. Eight bells ringing out meant that a watch was over.

The six watches are: the first watch, 20.00h – 24.00h; the middle watch, 00.00h – 04.00h; morning watch, 04.00h – 08.00h; the forenoon watch, 08.00h – 12.00h; the afternoon watch, 12.00h – 16.00h; and the evening watch or dog watches, 16.00h – 20.00h. There is some international variation in these names.

The evening watch is split into equal two-hour watches, known as first dog and last dog (never second dog). This produces an uneven number of watches in the 24-hour period, seven instead of six, which ensures that watch-keepers do not keep the same watches every day. The origin of the term 'dog watch' is unknown, but the system was in use by the 17th Century. One naval wag suggested they were called this because they were curtailed ('Cur-tailed'). No? Well, that's the kind of joke they liked in those days. Sorry!

The number of glasses was struck on the bell in double strokes. For instance, 15.30h (seven glasses): ++  ++  ++  +

If your ship had no bell because of loss, thrift or theft, three 'ruffs' would be beaten on a drum at each turning of the glass, which was the case in George Shevlocke's Speedwell on her voyage around the world in the early 18th Century.

Before jumping to the conclusion that Jack Tar would have been better off if cheap quartz wrist watches had been available, you should consider that he always knew exactly where he was and what he should be doing when his days were ordered like this; most reassuring if his ship was in a hostile or chaotic environment. And there was some comfort in knowing that this time sequence had been brought along with him – all the way from home.

(Adapted from 'The Lore of Sail', a maritime symposium on all aspects of the big sailing ships of the past, 1975 & 1983, AB Nordbok, Gothenburg, Sweden, with reference also to 'The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea')

—Keith Muscott • Dinghy Cruising Association

•SCA•