MargNZ's Fotothing

This Timeball Station above Lyttelton harbour is one of only a few left in the world.
From 1876 - 1934 the dropping of the Lyttelton time ball daily, at a regular time, signalled Greenwich time to shipping in the harbour. This enabled navigators to check their Chronometers and calculate their position of longitude once back at sea.
Today it is dropped at 1pm daily to maintain the tradition.
The flagstaff to the right of the timeball was used until 1941 to signal ships and to communicate shipping advice to the town.
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