Bells and Belfreys for Ship Models

Considering that the 15th century, ship's bells have played both a practical and symbolic role in the life of naval vessels and their crews. All good ship models will need to have a bell on board. All excellent ship models should also have an ornate belfry - depending on the era of the ship model.

There's documentary evidence that a minumum of one English royal vessel, the Rodcogge de la Tour, 1414, had a brass bell "to mark the watches of the sailors" ;.Other mentions of the shipboard bell were on the British ship Grace Dieu about 1485.

Some 10 years later an inventory of the English ship Regent reveals this ship carried two watch bells. Originally the bell was fixed to a moveable beam which was activated by way of a lever or even a wheel to which was attached a bell rope that dropped to the main-deck. That the bell rope wasn't attached right to the bell clapper implies that, in those early days, the ship's bell wasn't used to mark the passage of the hours and half-hours. crew manning agency in bangladesh

Way back when, time at sea was measured by the trickle of sand by way of a half - hour glass. The sand glass on the deck was usually alongside a bell (ship's strike), and the ship's boy (called a Grommet) was responsible for turning the glass over, and ringing the ship's bell at once, so the helmsman may make sure he turned his glass at exactly the same.