Archive (29.08.06)
HISTORIC FOG BELL ON VIEW AT ABERDEEN HARBOUR
A bell once used as a fog warning is helping to ring the changes at Aberdeen Harbour where a
state-of-the-art Marine Operations Centre is nearing completion.
For more than a century, mariners approaching the entrance to the port in thick fog
heard the sound of the bell ringing.
Cast by John Warner & Sons, London, in 1889, it was located at the seaward end of the North
Breakwater when a final extension created the 2,600-foot (800 metre) long wall as it is today.
For decades, the bell was operated from the Navigation Control Centre - the distinctive "Roundhouse" - where the
flick of a switch started an electric motor powering three hammers to hit the large bell.
It was finally removed in July, 2001, and replaced with an electronic sounder.
The Roundhouse is now being superseded by the Marine Operations Centre which will house the
latest technology for monitoring and directing vessel movements at the busy port, as well as the control
switch for the sounder.
The now silent bell has been brought out of storage and incorporated as a feature of new
landscaping where it is attracting the interest of visitors to the Footdee area.
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