Ship's Watch (watch)

NauticalTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

Four hours, the standard duty period at sea. The 'dog watches' of the evening are split into two hours each.

1 ship's watch = 14,400 seconds (exactly).

About the ship's watch

Naval and merchant crews divide the day into watches so that the ship is never left unattended. A normal watch lasts four hours, and its length is the basis for the figure used here, 14,400 seconds. The traditional scheme described by Wikipedia had five four-hour watches and two two-hour dog watches, named the first, middle, morning, forenoon and afternoon watches, with the afternoon watch ending at 1600.

Splitting the 1600 to 2000 period into a first and second dog watch gives an odd number of watches per day, so each crew member's schedule shifts from day to day, and it also lets everyone eat an evening meal. Time on board is marked with the ship's bell, struck every half hour so that eight bells ends a four-hour watch. Merchant ships typically keep six four-hour watches instead, which makes the pattern consistent.

Sources: Wikipedia: Watchkeeping; Wikipedia: Ship's bell

Ship's Watch conversion chart

1 ship's watch expressed in every other time unit:

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