Ship's bell clock

A clock that tells time the way sailors did, striking one to eight bells over each four-hour watch instead of counting the hours.

What a ship's bell clock is

A ship's bell clock is a mechanical clock that strikes the traditional sailors' bell code rather than the hour. Instead of ringing three times at three o'clock, it rings six bells, because three o'clock is the sixth half hour of the afternoon watch.

Most are compact brass-cased clocks built for use on ships and boats, though many have ended up on desks and mantels ashore. The Chelsea Clock Company of Massachusetts, whose signature product has long been its ship's bell clock, still produces them.

The bell code

At sea the day was traditionally divided into six watches of four hours each. Britannica and the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command both explain that the bell was struck once at the end of the first half hour of a watch, twice at the end of the first hour, and so on up to eight bells at the end of the watch. The old phrase eight bells and all is well, the command notes, means a watch that ended without incident.

That puts eight bells at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock, morning and evening. The National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy gives worked examples: 0800 is eight bells, 0830 one bell, 0900 two bells, and 1530 seven bells. The strokes come in pairs with a short pause between them, so four bells sounds as two quick doubles.

The 4 to 8 p.m. watch was often split into two dog watches, from 1600 to 1800 and 1800 to 2000, so the crew on duty could eat their evening meal. Britannica notes that after the 1797 mutiny at the Nore, British ships changed the bell count in the second dog watch, striking one, two and three bells before eight bells at 8 p.m., because five bells had been the signal for the mutiny. The New Zealand Navy Museum adds that on New Year's Eve the youngest member of the ship's company traditionally strikes sixteen bells.

See also: turning bell counts into 24-hour military time on OnlineClock.app.

Where it came from

Ships used bells to mark time from at least the fifteenth century, according to Britannica. The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command notes that one of the earliest recorded shipboard bells was on the English ship Grace Dieu in 1485, and that about a decade later the Regent carried two watch bells.

Before reliable clocks, time on board was kept with a half-hour sandglass. Through the eighteenth century, a quartermaster or ship's boy turned the glass when the sand ran out and struck the bell at the same moment. The glass was turned eight times in a watch, which is why the count runs to eight.

The bell had other jobs too. Britannica notes that rapid strokes warned of fog and, at other times, signaled fire, and the New Zealand Navy Museum records that British naval regulations made ringing a bell in fog mandatory in 1858. A ship's bell clock takes over only the timekeeping duty, striking the right number of bells on its own every half hour.

Makers and patents

Clockmakers in Massachusetts and Vermont were patenting ship's bell clocks by the 1890s. A patent list kept by the Chelsea Clock Museum shows a Ship's Bell Clock patent, No. 500,717, to John S. Negus of the Boston Clock Company, dated July 4, 1893, followed by patents from Walter K. Menns for the Chelsea Clock Company in 1900 and from George D. McMillan for the Vermont Clock Company in 1901. Menns added a patent for a ship's bell clock case in 1901.

The Chelsea Clock Company traces its origins to Joseph Eastman. Yankee magazine reports that he founded the Eastman Clock Company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1897, adapting a watch-type movement that, unlike a pendulum clock, kept time in any position. Chelsea's own materials use the date 1896. After Eastman's firm went bankrupt, Charles Pearson bought it, renamed it Chelsea Clock Company, and made the chiming ship's bell clock its signature product.

Chelsea supplied the U.S. Navy and other branches of the military, and by the 1920s its clocks were sold through marine distributors and jewelers and used on yachts and scientific expeditions. Menns also patented an automatic ship's bell for Chelsea in 1911. Today Chelsea describes its traditional ship's bell movement as an 11-jewel mechanical design with more than 360 parts, housed in a forged brass case and wound with a key.

How to recognize one

Listen first. A ship's bell clock strikes on the hour and the half hour, in pairs, and never more than eight times. Hearing two bells at one o'clock or five bells at half past ten is a sure sign.

Look at the case and movement. The classic form is a round, heavy brass case with a hinged bezel, a white or silvered dial and a key-wound movement that does not depend on a pendulum. Many have nautical touches, and Yankee notes that designs shaped like a ship's wheel were popular.

Check the dial or movement for a maker's name. Early patents for these clocks name the Boston Clock Company, the Chelsea Clock Company and the Vermont Clock Company, and Chelsea is still making them today.

See also: how household clocks mark the hour with chimes instead on OnlineClock.app.

Keep exploring

Sources

1. Ship's bell, Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. Ding, Ding: History and Heritage Blog on Ship's Bells, Naval History and Heritage Command
3. Bells on Warships, National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy
4. 8 1/2 inch Ship's Bell Clock, Chelsea Clock
5. Patent Documents, Chelsea Clock Museum
6. Antiques: Chelsea Clocks, Yankee Magazine