Mauritius

The time ball service at Port Louis, Mauritius started in April 1833, six months before the Greenwich service. It was established by John Augustus Lloyd who had been appointed to Mauritius in 1831. His chosen arrangement used a stationary black ball or disc on a white background behind a shutter. The time service later deteriorated, with only an intermittent flag signal for an extended period, although a time ball had been erected on Signal Mountain in 1866. It was rejuvenated when a new observatory became operational in 1874. It was then operated electrically, but the apparatus was destroyed in the 1892 hurricane. Another ball was introduced as the new principal signal near the Port Office in March 1907 and was the official signal thereafter. It was regulated using wireless signals after the astronomical observatory closed. The earlier time ball was then dropped manually in response until 1945. Streetlights were dimmed as another time signal in the 1920s and 1930s.