Port Town

Even today, getting to New Zealand is no easy business. Back before GPS and accurate clocks, it was even harder. One of the greatest scientific problems of the 17th century was determining a ship's longitude (that's how far East or West of the Prime Meridian a ship is located). This made for serious sailing issues! Following Galileo, ship captains used the moon and stars to determine position for most of the 1600s, but this method is unreliable.

Finally, in 1730, British Clockmaker John Harrison built the first precise marine clock. By knowing the difference between local time and Greenwich Mean Time, captains could finally know with great accuracy their longitude. Longitude at a point may be determined because there are 24 hours in a day and 360 degrees in a circle, so the sun moves across the sky at a rate of 15 degrees per hour (360°/24 hours = 15° per hour).

Which brings us to this fair island. Without a copy of a John Harrison clock, Captain James Cook probably would not have mapped Neuseeland in 1770. Without a map in hand, the English settlers would not have sailed on The First Four Ships to settle Christchurch in 1850. The first colonists arrived in Port Lyttelton:

scaled the Port Hills and started clearing swampland to establish this city. For the next 100 years, New Zealand colonists relied heavily on importing goods from and exporting goods to England. Ships sailed in and out of Port Lyttelton. How did they know the time? With a timeball, of course! On a cold grey winter Sunday, we played captains, sailors, and pirates. We visited the timeball, a castle like place high on a hill above the port:

The ball on the mast has dropped every day at exactly 1pm since 1876 to tell mariners the true time (it should make you think of New Year's Eve on Times Square).

We also had a treasure hunt at Corsair Bay. Anna drew a very cool treasure map and James hid the treasure while we played on the wooden pirate ship. Anna didn't want a mutiny; we were mateys and we shared the captaincy. I love the fact that Anna's honing her map skills and having fun at the same time.


Ships sailed, treasure found, time clocks calibrated, it was at last time to go home and have hot curries for dinner:-)