The Mediterranean

The signals in the Mediterranean are described, excluding the signals at Toulon and Gibraltar which have been described in Chap. 11. They include the signal at Beirut, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, and the Egyptian signals at Alexandria and Port Said on the coast of North Africa. Several ports before the First World War had been in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many time signals were distributed around the coasts of Italy, Sicily and the Adriatic. Combinations of time balls and guns were used widely. Several unusual signals are described in detail, including an extraordinary shutter signal at Pola, then in Austria. Early time lights at Genoa, Trieste and Venice were followed by another at Taranto in 1933. Some were extinguished at 5 minutes past the hour. There were early signals in Malta and Croatia, followed by others in Greece and Albania, with a time gun at Durazzo that appeared in the 1947 list.