Bronzed 30 Minute Hourglass

Product description

Some hourglasses measured up to two hours and were used at a time when the Inquisition designed church pews to torture humans back. Ship's hourglasses were calibrated to the half hours of the ship's watch, and if the helmsman didn't turn the glass too early, it doubled in defining longitude. Navigators tried to keep count of the hours; the ships wrecked on the Western Australian reefs remind us of the perils of incorrectly kept time.