Enacting the resolutions
The resolutions from the conference were only proposals – it was up to the respective governments to show political will and implement them ... and progress was slow ... very slow. Resolution six was particularly problematic – not because of the nautical day (which had been dealt with before and was easy to change), but because of the implications of changing the astronomical day. Changing it would take a great deal of coordination if confusion and misunderstandings were to be avoided as Samuel Franklin the man in charge of the Naval Observatory in the United States was soon to discover. The order he issued on 4 December 1884 for the changes to be introduced from 1 January had to be rapidly rescinded, following his failure to properly anticipate the practical implications of so sudden a change. William Christie his opposite number at Greenwich was rather more circumspect. He made only a symbolic gesture, which included altering the Observatory’s public clock with its 24-hour dial. From 1 January 1885, instead of showing astronomical time as it had in the past, it was set to show civil time – a change that involved moving the hour hand half way around the dial. The two pictures below were both taken in the hour before midday. The one on the left dates from about 1870 and shows a time on the clock of 23.20. The one on the right was taken soon after the changeover and shows a time of 11.50.