Introduction to Part II

The limitations of Part II are described in this chapter. The principal aims of subsequent chapters are to explore the broad evolution of visual time signals for mariners and to identify the locations of important signals in different countries which were erected from the 1830s onwards. There is much greater clarity after 1880, when lists of signals were first published by the British Admiralty and other authorities worldwide. The development of time signals in different countries or groups of countries is described in succeeding chapters. Results are presented using maps of signal locations and tables showing changes in the availability and types of signals. Mauritius, New Zealand and South Africa used some extraordinary time signals that have merited close examination. In other countries, information may have been destroyed during wartime or has yet to be studied by historians. Short chapters are limited by information available, not because time signals were less significant.