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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Chronometer rating
From: David C
Date: 2024 Jan 31, 14:38 -0800
From: David C
Date: 2024 Jan 31, 14:38 -0800
I suspect that every time ball station had its own local procedures. This letter to the editor in the Wellington Independant of 1873 reveals the Wellington practice. Sights were taken the evening before and if "sharp" a message was placed in the next morning's newspaper advising mariners that the ball could be used for rating. Maybe previously a letter to the editor had advised mariners to ignore the timeball? I have not searched for such a letter.
In this era NZ mean time was GMT + 11hr 30min. When reading the letter I had to make sure that I interpreted the word "noon" correctly. It was NOT when the sun was on the meridian.
David C
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