Posted by John Wilson on October 26, 2007 at 10:22:10 from 202.154.154.103 user hugo.
In Reply to: Re: Signal Stations posted by Peter H on October 25, 2007 at 19:28:07:
Re Signalling, the Time Ball at ports was dropped so that ships could check their chronometer and get their longitude right. According to Wikipedia “Time ball’ usually at 1 pm, or at noon in the USA. The ball was hauled up five minutes beforehand to warn the ships; initially half way up then the whole way 2-3 minutes beforehand. This was in the 19th and early 20th century.
In ML they checked their position daily in the South China Seas; was it just John & Nancy, and did they check their position in PD too?