British Isles

The emphasis in this chapter is on signals in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland that were listed by the Admiralty from 1880 onwards and on signals that preceded them at listed locations. Time balls at Greenwich, Edinburgh, Deal and Portsmouth were introduced before 1860. A collapsible cone signal at Devonport had been introduced in June 1861. It was replaced by a time ball in 1886. The number had been increased to nine in 1898 and reached a maximum of twelve in 1919. These were located at Chatham, Deal, Devonport, Falmouth, Greenwich, Immingham Dock, Portland, Portsmouth, Sheerness and Southampton in England; Edinburgh and Rosyth in Scotland; Dublin in Ireland. Precision time guns at Edinburgh and Liverpool were followed by several others around the British Isles, so that nine were listed in 1898. Most had been withdrawn before or during the First World War, but the Liverpool gun was only withdrawn in 1969 and the Edinburgh gun remains as a tourist attraction.