Russia, Finland and Latvia

Signals in Russia ranged from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Arctic port of Archangel and to Vladivostok, on the Sea of Japan. The observatory at Polkowa near St Petersburg was an important reference for time definition from the 1840s onwards. Time balls and guns were used widely, with later addition of lights at Sevastopol and Archangel. Finland and Latvia were in Russia for part of the era of visual time signals. Time balls in Finland were at Helsingfors (Helsinki), complemented by a time gun, and at Abo and Uleaborg. Latvia had time signals at Riga and Libau. Time lights at Riga were introduced in 1927, a nineteenth century time ball having been discontinued in 1921. A time ball and time gun operated at Libau between 1913 and 1921. Remarkably, five time balls, five guns and two lights were still listed for Russia, Finland and Latvia in 1947.