Kinns, Roger (Author)
Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage
Volume: 23
Issue: 3
Pages: 523-552
The East India Company played an important role in establishing time signals for mariners in India. The Company was replaced in 1858 by the India Office, a department of state. Subsequent reports to London included details of time signals and their performance. In 1860, there were time balls at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, but their dates of introduction varied. Navigation guides and lists of time signals worldwide sh wed the subsequent development of time signals in India, Burma and Ceylon. The geographical area now includes modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Many cities have changed names since visual time signals were made redundant by radio. A first time ball service in India was established at Calcutta in 1835, with a time ball at the Observatory and a secondary ball at Fort William. Later, there were three Calcutta time balls in parallel operation. An early time ball in India was operational at Colaba Observatory in Bombay during 1840. It was replaced temporarily by a flag, re-established and then moved to Bombay Castle. A controlled clock was later installed near the time ball. A second time ball had been installed on the tower at the Prince's and Victoria Docks in 1891 and became the principal signal. A Madras time gun was operating in 1841. The first time ball at Madras was erected in 1853 and subsequently transferred to the Government. It was unreliable in 1858-1859 and had to be rebuilt. It was still in service in 1878. The Madras time ball had been replaced by a semaphore signal by 1880, to be replaced in turn by another time ball in 1917. A time gun service continued throughout. A time ball at Karachi was announced in 1874 and time balls later existed there at three different locations. Rangoon had a time ball from 1893 and another was established in 1919 at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. There were also time guns at Rangoon and Moulmein, and a time light at Rangoon. Colombo initially had a time ball, replaced by a semaphore signal which was in turn replaced by another time ball in 1914.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Henry J. Noltie;
Mark F. Watson;
(2016)
Career, Collections, Reports and Publications of Dr Francis Buchanan (Later Hamilton), 1762–1829: Natural History Studies in Nepal, Burma (Myanmar), Bangladesh and India. Part 1
(/isis/citation/CBB204287148/)
Article
Ernst, Waltraud;
(2007)
Beyond East and West. From the History of Colonial Medicine to a Social History of Medicine(s) in South Asia
(/isis/citation/CBB000773195/)
Book
Joy L. K. Pachuau;
Willem van Schendel;
(2023)
Entangled Lives: Human-Animal-Plant Histories of the Eastern Himalayan Triangle
(/isis/citation/CBB492501803/)
Article
Projit Bihari Mukharji;
(2015)
Technospatial Imaginaries: Masud Rana and the Vernacularization of Popular Cold War Geopolitics in East Pakistan, 1966–1971
(/isis/citation/CBB003143685/)
Book
Cederlof, Gunnel;
Sivaramakrishnan, Kalayanakrishnan;
(2006)
Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihoods, and Identities in South Asia
(/isis/citation/CBB000950054/)
Article
Fiona Paisley;
(2021)
From Missionary Work in the Pacific to the Future of India: Jean Begg on Faith, Friendship and Social Science in a Life of Service
(/isis/citation/CBB205905451/)
Article
Arnab Chakraborty;
(2023)
COVID-19 Response in South Asia: Case Studies from India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan
(/isis/citation/CBB761997205/)
Book
Amrith, Sunil S;
(2013)
Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants
(/isis/citation/CBB001421571/)
Article
R.C. Kapoor;
Wayne Orchiston;
(2023)
Colonial astronomy as an element of Empire in British India
(/isis/citation/CBB770458313/)
Article
Sunil K. Pandya;
(2015)
Dr Charles Morehead MD (Edinburgh), FRCP (1807–1882): Pioneer in Medical Education
(/isis/citation/CBB025203269/)
Book
Karolina Hutková;
(2019)
The English East India Company's silk enterprise in Bengal, 1750-1850: economy, empire and business
(/isis/citation/CBB142446892/)
Book
Arthur MacGregor;
(2019)
Company Curiosities: Nature, Culture and the East India Company, 1600–1874
(/isis/citation/CBB007862581/)
Article
Aggarwal, Abhilasha;
(2007)
British Higher Education in Mathematics for India: Two British Colleges, 1806--1861
(/isis/citation/CBB001023640/)
Article
K. A. Wolcott;
S. S. Renner;
(2017)
Jan Vilém Helfer's (1810–1840) Collections From India, the Andaman Archipelago and Burma
(/isis/citation/CBB332071059/)
Article
Oyndrila Sarkar;
(2017)
Science Surveying and Scientific Authority: The Brothers Schlagintweit in India and High Asia 1854-57
(/isis/citation/CBB785593502/)
Book
William Dalrymple;
Olivia Fraser;
(2019)
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
(/isis/citation/CBB426972405/)
Article
Oyndrila Sarkar;
(2017)
Science Surveying and Scientific Authority: The Brothers Schlagintweit in India and High Asia 1854-57
(/isis/citation/CBB917755784/)
Article
Berg, Maxine;
(2013)
Useful Knowledge, “Industrial Enlightenment”, and the Place of India
(/isis/citation/CBB001421541/)
Article
Kaushik, Roy;
(2012)
History of the Ordnance Establishments of British India: 1700--1947
(/isis/citation/CBB001200142/)
Book
Wald, Erica;
(2014)
Vice in the Barracks: Medicine, the Military and the Making of Colonial India, 1780--1868
(/isis/citation/CBB001422202/)
Be the first to comment!