Ball Tower & Time Gun at Fort William, Kolkata, India

Time Gun of Seventeenth Century (Personal album)

Imagine yourself as a captain of a merchant ship in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, having traversed vast oceans and diverse time zones. After a long voyage from Zanzibar, you have brought an exquisite cargo: exotic gems, piles of ivory, and countless treasures, to trade at the bustling port of Kolkata, then known as Calcutta. Your ship's clocks are still set to the time of Zanzibar, the port where your journey began.

Meanwhile, along the winding Thames River in London, another ship laden with tons of fine cloth from Great Britain's mills is heading toward the same distant destination. Numerous other vessels of varying sizes and origins also converge near the Kolkata port, carrying goods from across the globe. Each ship's clocks reflect the local time of their last port of call, making it impossible to know the precise local time at the Kolkata harbour while they await passage at the sand heads of the Hooghly River.

This pressing problem of synchronizing time for mariners and city dwellers alike found a remarkable solution through British ingenuity in colonial Calcutta. In 1881, the Calcutta Port Commissioner commissioned the construction of a towering, 100-foot structure within Fort William: the Ball Tower. Designed as a vital navigational aid, the Ball Tower served sailors and locals by offering an unmistakable visual signal of the exact time every day.

Ball Tower (Source: Internet)

At precisely 12:55 pm, the white ball atop the mast would rise halfway up the tower. Three minutes later, it ascended fully to the peak, held momentarily in suspension. Then, as clockwork dictated, at exactly 1:00 pm, the ball began a deliberate, slow descent down the mast. The captain and crew aboard the ships waiting nearby would watch this elegant, silent signalling, adjusting their marine chronometers and clocks accordingly, thus ensuring perfect synchronization with local time.

The Ball Tower was more than a mere timekeeper. It was a part of a vast network of semaphore towers spanning nearly 700 kilometres from Kolkata to Chunar (presently located in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, North India). The tower played a pivotal role in optical telegraphy before electric telegraphs were introduced. The semaphore system used pivoting mechanical arms to convey messages visually across distances with remarkable speed; messages that could traverse the vast expanse between Calcutta and Chunar in just under an hour on clear days.

Front view of the Time Gun (Personal album)

Coupled with this sophisticated visual system was an equally vital auditory time signal, the famed Time Gun. Cast in 1756, this all-brass cannon was strategically placed on the ramparts of Fort William. Every day, as the clock struck 1:00 pm, the cannon boomed sharply across the Hooghly River, its resounding report carrying far and wide. Ship captains and city residents alike would pause, listening intently, resetting their clocks as the powerful echo faded into the air.

Firing the noon gun was a tradition upheld across many British ports worldwide, a sonic beacon of time for maritime commerce and urban life. Today, the Time Gun remains preserved as an archaeological artifact within Fort William's grounds, a reverberation of colonial technological innovation and global maritime practices. With advancement of communication technologies viz. wireless signals, followed by electric telegraph etc., the service of once famous Time Gun was discontinued in the year 1938. Later, the nearly 270-year-old Time Gun was shifted in the building called Kitchener House, named after the British military commander Lord Kitchener. 

Lord Kitchener, renowned for his military prowess and imperial leadership during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, met an untimely fate in 1916 when the ship he was aboard hit a naval mine near the Orkney Islands during World War I. Reflecting the spirit of honoring Indian leaders, Kitchener House was renamed Manekshaw House in December 2024 after Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the revered Chief of Army Staff who led India to victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.

Fort William itself, whose original incarnation dates back to 1696 and was named after King William III of England, holds centuries of layered history. The fort seen today was constructed between 1758 and 1781 after British forces reclaimed control following decisive battles. It stands sentinel over Kolkata as a living monument to colonial heritage.

In a compassionate move towards decolonization and to honor India’s rich indigenous military history, the Indian Army renamed Fort William as Vijay Durg in December 2024, inspired by the legendary maritime fort along Maharashtra's Sindhudurg coast. 

Today, the Bell Tower is visible from outside of Fort William aka Vijay Durg, as far as from Vidyasagar Bridge (Second Hooghly Bridge) and from the Hooghly River. The polished and shining canon - the Time Gun is welcoming visitors at the portico of magnificent Manekshaw House.

Recently, I had the privilege of joining a heritage tour inside Vijay Durg, the vibrant headquarters of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command. The experience offered a profound glimpse into Kolkata’s colonial past intertwined with its evolving present, witnessing firsthand how history, heritage, and preservation continue to shape this iconic fort and the stories it guards.

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The noble objective of this blog, is to share knowledge through images/pictures and related narration. A few of the scans, featured in this blogpost are mine while others (sourced from internet) are properties of their respective owners. No intention to infringe any type of copyright. 

The information provided in the article is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith. This is only for sharing of knowledge. No commercial, religious or political angle, whatsoever, is involved. This is not a historical document. Apologies in advance, should there be any inadvertent error. Under no circumstances, I shall have any liability for reliance on any information provided in the story.