Bells, Clocks, Watches
Schedules and Time Adjustments
The Junior Officers on board Titanic were required to keep “watch-and-watch” with the Able-Bodied Seamen. Third Officer Herbert Pitman was in charge of the “port watch” and was paired with Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe. Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall was in charge of the “starboard watch” and was paired with Sixth Officer James Moody. What this meant was that each watch section, port and starboard, worked 4 hours on and then had 4 hours off. To ensure that the same watch section didn’t have to work the same hours every day, the 4 hour period from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. was divided into two Dog Watches of 2 hours each.
Regular sea watches for the Deck Department crew on board Titanic, excluding the Senior Officers, Lookouts, and those who did not have to stand regular sea watches, is shown in the table below:
Regular Sea
Watches on Board Ship
|
|
|
First watch |
8 p.m. to Midnight |
|
Middle Watch |
Midnight to 4 a.m. |
|
Morning Watch |
4 a.m. to 8 a.m. |
|
Forenoon Watch |
8 a.m. to Noon |
|
Afternoon Watch |
Noon to 4 p.m. |
|
First Dog Watch |
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. |
|
Second Dog Watch |
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. |
The watch schedule for the Senior Officers in accordance with IMM rules is shown in the next table:
Senior Officers’
Watches
|
||
|
Second Officer Lightoller |
6 a.m. to 10 a.m. |
6 p.m. to 10 p.m. |
|
First Officer Murdoch |
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
10 p.m. to 2 a.m. |
|
Chief Officer Wilde |
2 a.m. to 6 a.m. |
2 p.m. to 6 p.m. |
Titanic had six lookouts. They were divided into
three watch pairs. Their watch assignments were:
Lookouts’
Watches
|
||||
|
Evans and Hogg |
Midnight to 2 a.m. |
6 a.m. to 8 a.m. |
Noon to 2 p.m. |
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. |
|
Symons and Jewell |
2 a.m. to 4 a.m. |
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. |
2 p.m. to 4 p.m. |
8 p.m. to 10 p.m. |
|
Fleet and Lee |
4 a.m. to 6 a.m. |
10 a.m. to Noon |
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. |
10 p.m. to Midnight |
Titanic had six Quartermasters. They were divided
into two watch triplets: R=Rowe, O=Olliver and H=Hichens
in the starboard watch, and B=Bright, P=Perkis and W=Wynn
in the port watch. Their start time watch assignments over a two-consecutive
day period were:
|
|
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Middle |
Morning |
Forenoon |
Afternoon |
Dog1 |
Dog2 |
First |
Middle |
Morning |
Forenoon |
Afternoon |
Dog1 |
Dog2 |
First |
|||||||||||
|
MidNt |
2am |
4am |
6am |
8am |
10am |
Noon |
2pm |
4pm |
6pm |
8pm |
10pm |
MidNt |
2am |
4am |
6am |
8am |
10am |
Noon |
2pm |
4pm |
6pm |
8pm |
10pm |
|
|
Standby |
W |
P |
O |
R |
P |
B |
R |
H |
B |
H |
P |
B |
R |
H |
B |
W |
H |
O |
W |
P |
O |
P |
H |
O |
|
Wheel |
P |
W |
R |
O |
B |
P |
H |
R |
W |
O |
B |
P |
H |
R |
W |
B |
O |
H |
P |
W |
R |
B |
O |
H |
|
Poop |
B |
B |
H |
H |
W |
W |
O |
O |
P |
R |
W |
W |
O |
O |
P |
P |
R |
R |
B |
B |
H |
W |
R |
R |
Regular sea watches for the Engine Department crew on board Titanic, excluding those who do not stand regular sea watches, is shown below along with the watch leaders:
|
Engine Department Watch Assignments on the Titanic |
||
|
Senior Second Engineer William Farquharson & Senior Assistant Second Engineer Bertie Wilson |
Midnight to 4 a.m. |
Noon to 4 p.m. |
|
Junior Second Engineer Norman Harrison & Junior Assistant Second Engineer Herbert Harvey |
4 a.m. to 8 a.m. |
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. |
|
Junior Second Engineer John Hesketh & Junior Assistant Second Engineer Jonathan Shepherd |
8 a.m. to Noon |
8 p.m. to Midnight |
Time on board was marked by the striking of ship’s bells every half hour. The striking sequence was done in pairs as shown below:
|
Number of Bells Struck |
Bell Striking Sequence |
|
1 bell |
Ding |
|
2 bells |
Ding-Ding |
|
3 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding |
|
4 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding |
|
5 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding |
|
6 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding |
|
7 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding |
|
8 bells |
Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding; Ding-Ding |
According to the IMM Co. “Ship’s Rules and Uniform
Regulations (July 1907):”
116. Time To be Kept. -- Seventy-fifth meridian time must be
used for time of arrival and departure from Sandy Hook Lightship, Five Fathom
Bank Lightship, and other points of arrival and departure in the United States
and Canada. Greenwich Mean Time must be used in Abstract Logs after the English
or Irish land is made. When passing points and ships at sea, either eastbound
or westbound, Greenwich Mean Time, as well as ship's time must be used.
259. Ship’s Time. -- The Officer of the Watch [OOW] will
see that the ship's time is changed between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.,
the clocks to be set for Noon before 6 a.m. The Engine Room Clock must at all
times agree with the Clock in the Wheelhouse, and must be corrected
accordingly.
303. Winding Chronometers. -- Unless the Commander otherwise decides, he [the First Officer] will wind and compare chronometers at 8 a.m. each day, and keep a Chronometer Comparison Book. He will also see that the clock’s are wound.
305. Engine Room and
Deck Clocks to Agree. -- When passing points of departure or
arrival, he [the First Officer] will see that the Engine room and Deck
times agree.
420. Deck and Engine Room Times to Agree. -- He [the Chief Engineer] will be careful to keep the time or clock by which the engine department is worked as nearly as possible the same as the Deck Department or Bridge time.
On land, time is based on a mean (or fictitious) sun that takes exactly 24 hours to go around the earth each day. However, time on board ship was based on the position of the true sun and needed to be adjusted every day, an adjusted that was necessary because of the movement of the ship and something called the equation of time. On White Star Line ships, clocks were adjusted close to midnight each night so that at local apparent noon the next day, when the true sun crossed the ship’s local meridian, the clocks will read 12:00. Time kept by the position of the true sun was called Apparent Time Ship (ATS). For westbound ships, such as the Titanic on her maiden voyage, the clocks had to be put back each night near midnight. For eastbound ships, the clocks had to be put forward each night near midnight. From a section of a 1924 White Star Line brochure given to second class passengers on a westbound voyage [courtesy of Mark Chirnside]:
“On the voyage from Europe, owing to the alteration in time
as the ship proceeds Westward, it is necessary to put the clock back every 24
hours. The alteration in time is made at about midnight, and the clock is
usually put back from 35 to 45 minutes on each occasion, the exact amount of time
depending upon the distance the ship is estimated to make by noon the next day.
During the first 24 hours, however, owing to the change from Mean time to
Apparent Time, the alteration is likely to be considerably more than 45
minutes, especially while Summer Time is in use.”
From second officer Lightoller and third officer Pitman we know that the clocks on Titanic were adjusted at midnight (as also noted in that White Star Line brochure) so that they would read 12:00 at local apparent noon the next day. If a slight correction to the clocks were needed, it was done some time before noon when they could obtain a sun line celestial sight to give them their longitude. And that correction, which would have been done on the master clocks carried on board the ship, would at most be about 1 minute either way, if even needed at all. At local apparent noon the ship’s officers would take another sight of the sun to get their noontime latitude, and then advance the morning sun line to the noon latitude line by taking into account the speed and direction the ship was making between those two observations. This would then give them what is called a running fix for their noontime position.
Clocks in public and crew places on Titanic were impulse driven save clocks that were run off of a Magneta master clock located in the chart room. Titanic had two of these master clocks on board to control a total of 48 Slave clocks. We know from QM Robert Hichens, that the clocks on a westbound voyage were adjusted in two steps to add one-half the total adjustment time to each watch section of those keeping regular sea watches. The practice on White Star line Vessels was to make the first adjustment to “Bridge time” in the last hour before midnight, and the second adjustment to “Bridge time” in the first hour after midnight. (That the two partial adjustments are applied to these hours is easily seen from mileage data recorded in the logbook of the SS Celtic.)
The table below – Scenario For a Westbound Voyage – shows a possible sequence for adjusting clocks on Titanic. Only two clock adjustments are carried out. The first, a few minutes before midnight; and the second, several minutes after midnight. The first column (for reference) is time that would be seen on an unadjusted clock originally set to read 12:00 at local apparent noon April 14, 1912. The second column shows time that would be shown on slave clocks throughout the vessel. (These impulse driven slave clocks were unidirectional, they could advance only in steps of 1 minute jumps with the master clock that controlled them. If the master clock was put back, the slave clocks would show the time that the master clock was put back, and would only begin to advance again after the master clock came back to the time that it was showing when it was first retarded.) The third column, called Bridge Time, shows time on the master clocks kept in the chart room. And the fourth column lists specific events. (D&E in the table refers to Deck and Engine department personnel, excluding lookouts and the senior officers, on regular watch schedules. Where a row in a given time column is split, time on the left shows time on the clock just before an adjustment is made, while that on the right is just after the adjustment is made.) With these adjustments, the time served by each watch section is lengthened by about one-half of the full adjustment amount. The watch time of the First officer (who serves from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and is on-duty at midnight) is also lengthened, but in his case, by the full adjustment amount of 47 minutes.
We begin at 8 p.m., with the striking of 8-bells and the change of watch.
|
SCENARIO FOR A WESTBOUND VOYAGE |
|||||
|
Sequence of
Planned Clock Changes on Titanic For the Night of April 14, 1912 |
|||||
|
Unadjusted clock |
Slave Clocks |
Bridge Time |
Event |
||
|
8:00 |
8:00 p.m. |
8:00 p.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of First Watch) |
||
|
8:30 |
8:30 p.m. |
8:30 p.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
9:00 |
9:00 p.m. |
9:00 p.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
9:30 |
9:30 p.m. |
9:30 p.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
10:00 |
10:00 p.m. |
10:00 p.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
10:30 |
10:30 p.m. |
10:30 p.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
11:00 |
11:00 p.m. |
11:00 p.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
11:30 |
11:30 p.m. |
11:30 p.m. |
7-bells |
||
|
12:00 |
12:00 a.m. |
12:00 a.m. |
11:37 p.m. |
Master clocks
set back 23 min |
|
|
12:08 |
12:00 a.m. |
11:45 |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
12:23 |
12:00 a.m. |
12:00 a.m. |
8-bells (Midnight) Start of April 15th 1912 D&E crew change of watch Lookout
change of watch (Start of Middle Watch) |
||
|
12:47 |
12:24 a.m. |
12:24 a.m. |
12:00 a.m. |
Master clocks
set back 24 min |
|
|
1:17 |
12:30 a.m. |
12:30 a.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
1:47 |
1:00 a.m. |
1:00 a.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
2:17 |
1:30 a.m. |
1:30 a.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
2:47 |
2:00 a.m. |
2:00 a.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
3:17 |
2:30 a.m. |
2:30 a.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
3:47 |
3:00 a.m. |
3:00 a.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
4:17 |
3:30 a.m. |
3:30 a.m. |
7-bells |
||
|
4:32 |
3:45 |
3:45 |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
4:47 |
4:00 a.m. |
4:00 a.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of Morning Watch) |
||
|
5:17 |
4:30 a.m. |
4:30 a.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
5:47 |
5:00 a.m. |
5:00 a.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
6:17 |
5:30 a.m. |
5:30 a.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
6:47 |
6:00 a.m. |
6:00 a.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
7:17 |
6:30 a.m. |
6:30 a.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
7:47 |
7:00 a.m. |
7:00 a.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
8:07 |
7:20 a.m. |
7:20 a.m. |
7-bells* |
||
|
8:32 |
7:45 a.m. |
7:45 a.m. |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
8:47 |
8:00 a.m. |
8:00 a.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of Forenoon Watch) |
||
It is interesting to note that when 8-bells are struck at midnight, it comes exactly half way in time between local apparent noon the previous day and local apparent noon the next day. This also makes the start of the next day (marked by 12:00 a.m. on Bridge Time clocks) occur very close to when the ship’s time reference, the true sun, would be crossing the lower branch of the ship’s local meridian, agreeing with the definition of midnight for a ship keeping Apparent Time based on the position of the sun each day at local apparent noon.[1]
For a more detailed schedule of events on Titanic for the night of April 14th 1912, see: Detailed Events Schedule.
For an eastbound voyage clocks had to set ahead since the actual time from local apparent noon one day to local apparent noon the following day was less than 24 hours. In the case of an eastbound voyage, one half the full adjustment was applied to the last hour before midnight of one day, and the other half of the full adjustment amount was applied to the first hour after midnight of the following day. (That the two partial adjustments are applied to these hours is easily seen from mileage data recorded in the logbook of the SS Celtic.)
The following table – Scenario For an Eastbound Voyage – shows the sequence that would have been used on Olympic on her maiden eastbound voyage. In this case, the total time adjustment is 44 minutes, with the clocks being put ahead near midnight. Unlike a westbound voyage, only one clock adjustment is actually needed if performed at 22 minutes before midnight. The total adjustment is 44 minutes, so the time on the clock goes from 11:38 p.m. to 12:22 a.m., and 8 bells are struck indicating midnight and the midnight change of watch. Notice also that the 8 to 12 watch (the First watch) served only 3 hours and 38 minutes, and the 12 to 4 watch (the Middle watch) will also serve only 3 hours and 38 minutes; both watch times are thereby shortened by 22 minutes (one-half the full adjustment amount) each. The watch time of the First officer (who serves from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and is on-duty at midnight) is also shortened, but in his case, by the full adjustment amount of 44 minutes. In the table below, the first column, for reference, is time on an unadjusted clock originally set to read 12:00 at local apparent noon July 1, 1911. The second column shows time kept on a master clock controlling the slave clocks in public places. The third column, Bridge Time, shows time on clocks used by the deck and engine departments for managing their watch schedules. And the fourth column lists specific events.
We begin, as before, at 8 p.m. with the striking of 8-bells and the change of watch.
|
SCENARIO FOR AN EASTBOUND VOYAGE |
|||||
Sequence of
Planned Clock Changes on Olympic For the Night of July 1, 1911 |
|||||
|
Unadjusted clock |
Slave Clocks |
Bridge Time |
Event |
||
|
8:00 |
8:00 p.m. |
8:00 p.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of First Watch) |
||
|
8:30 |
8:30 p.m. |
8:30 p.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
9:00 |
9:00 p.m. |
9:00 p.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
9:30 |
9:30 p.m. |
9:30 p.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
10:00 |
10:00 p.m. |
10:00 p.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
10:30 |
10:30 p.m. |
10:30 p.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
11:00 |
11:00 p.m. |
11:00 p.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
11:23 |
11:23 p.m. |
11:23 p.m. |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
11:30 |
11:30p.m. |
11:30 p.m. |
7-bells |
||
|
11:38 |
11:38 p.m. |
12:22 a.m. |
11:38 a.m. |
12:22 a.m. |
8-bells (Midnight) Start of July 2nd D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of Middle Watch) Master clocks
set ahead 44 min |
|
11:46 |
12:30 a.m. |
12:30 a.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
12:16 |
1:00 a.m. |
1:00 a.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
12:46 |
1:30 a.m. |
1:30 a.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
1:16 |
4:00 a.m. |
4:00 a.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
1:46 |
2:30 a.m. |
2:30 a.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
2:16 |
3:00 a.m. |
3:00 a.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
2:46 |
3:30 a.m. |
3:30 a.m. |
7-bells |
||
|
12:01 |
3:45 a.m. |
3:45 a.m. |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
3:16 |
4:00 a.m. |
4:00 a.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start
of Morning Watch)
|
||
|
3:46 |
4:30 a.m. |
4:30 a.m. |
1-bell |
||
|
4:16 |
5:00 a.m. |
5:00 a.m. |
2-bells |
||
|
4:46 |
5:30 a.m. |
5:30 a.m. |
3-bells |
||
|
5:16 |
6:00 a.m. |
6:00 a.m. |
4-bells OOW change of watch Lookout change of watch |
||
|
5:46 |
6:30 a.m. |
6:30 a.m. |
5-bells |
||
|
6:16 |
7:00 a.m. |
7:00 a.m. |
6-bells |
||
|
6:36 |
7:20 a.m. |
7:20 a.m. |
7-bells* |
||
|
7:01 |
7:45 a.m. |
7:45 a.m. |
One-bell warning
to watch below |
||
|
7:16 |
8:00 a.m. |
8:00 a.m. |
8-bells D&E crew change of watch Lookout change of watch (Start of Forenoon Watch) |
||
On the subject of “Time on Shipboard” written in a brochure for White Star Line passengers, it stated that shipboard time can be marked from the striking of bells on the vessel. [WSL brochure given to second class passengers, courtesy of Mark Chirnside.] The marking of time by the ship’s bell was listed as follows:
|
Watch |
Bridge Time |
Bells struck |
Watch |
Bridge Time |
Bells struck |
|
Middle Watch |
12:30 a.m. |
1 bell |
Afternoon Watch |
12:30 p.m. |
1 bell |
|
1:00 a.m. |
2 bells |
1:00 p.m. |
2 bells |
||
|
1:30 a.m. |
3 bells |
1:30 p.m. |
3 bells |
||
|
2:00 a.m. |
4 bells |
2:00 p.m. |
4 bells |
||
|
2:30 a.m. |
5 bells |
2:30 p.m. |
5 bells |
||
|
3:00 a.m. |
6 bells |
3:00 p.m. |
6 bells |
||
|
3:30 a.m. |
7 bells |
3:30 p.m. |
7 bells |
||
|
4:00 a.m. |
8 bells |
4:00 p.m. |
8 bells |
||
|
Morning Watch |
4:30 a.m. |
1 bell |
First Dog Watch |
4:30 p.m. |
1 bell |
|
5:00 a.m. |
2 bells |
5:00 p.m. |
2 bells |
||
|
5:30 a.m. |
3 bells |
5:30 p.m. |
3 bells |
||
|
6:00 a.m. |
4 bells |
6:00 p.m. |
4 bells |
||
|
6:30 a.m. |
5 bells |
Second Dog Watch |
6:30 p.m. |
1 bell |
|
|
7:00 a.m. |
6 bells |
7:00 p.m. |
2 bells |
||
|
* 7:20 a.m. |
7 bells |
7:30 p.m. |
3 bells |
||
|
8:00 a.m. |
8 bells |
8:00 p.m. |
8 bells |
||
|
Forenoon Watch |
8:30 a.m. |
1 bell |
First Watch |
8:30 p.m. |
1 bell |
|
9:00 a.m. |
2 bells |
9:00 p.m. |
2 bells |
||
|
9:30 a.m. |
3 bells |
9:30 p.m. |
3 bells |
||
|
10:00 a.m. |
4 bells |
10:00 p.m. |
4 bells |
||
|
10:30 a.m. |
5 bells |
10:30 p.m. |
5 bells |
||
|
11:00 a.m. |
6 bells |
11:00 p.m. |
6 bells |
||
|
* 11:20 a.m. |
7 bells |
11:30 p.m. |
7 bells |
||
|
Noon |
8 bells |
Midnight |
8 bells |
One bell is also struck 15 minutes before the change of watch as a warning to the Watch below that they are expected to be on deck punctually when 8 bells are struck.
* Seven bells in the Morning and
Forenoon watches are struck 10 minutes early to allow the Watch below (next for
duty) to have their breakfast and mid-day meal respectively.
[1] From the Glossary of The American Practical Navigator, 2002 Bicentennial Edition [Bowditch]: “midnight, n. Twelve hours from noon, or the instant the time reference crosses the lower branch of the reference celestial meridian.”