Marking the Hours - Ship's Bells

Nowadays, a ship’s bell is pretty much for ceremonial purposes. However, there was a time when the bell was the focal point of a ship’s day-to-day operation. Bell casting in Europe dates from the early 500s CE (the current era). Bells were first made for use in churches to call people to prayer and signal events such as funerals or approaching danger. The use of bells in seagoing vessels dates to about this era too, with the bell having a variety of uses. First of all, there was the sounding of the hours. What evolved over time was the striking of the ship’s bell once, at half-past midday. At one o’clock the bell was struck twice, then three times at one thirty and so on until four o’clock, when eight bells were struck, then the cycle started again. This cycle would have occurred six times a day but, for the comfort of those on board, the hours would not be rung between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. so that no one’s sleep was disturbed- these were known as the silent hours. The only time a ship’s bell was rung more than eight times was at New-Year’s-Eve when eight bells were struck for the old year and eight bells struck for the new one. The only other deviation from this may have been at times when a collision was to be avoided. On such an occasion the bell was rung loud and long.