[tz] TIme in Belize

Steve Allen sla at ucolick.org
Sat Nov 7 22:24:49 UTC 2020


On Sat 2020-11-07T15:21:43+0000 Michael H Deckers via tz hath writ:
> So the switch in the local civil time for Belize on 1912-04-01 was
> from T - 05:52:42.33 h to T - 06 h, where T is the realization of
> UT by the timing observatory for Belize at the time. And this is
> the fact that tzdb had to represent (possibly up to rounding). That
> T must have been off from UT by several seconds is also suggested
> by the telegraphy data of Milne, who reports that the Belize Court
> House clock was about UT - 05:52:47 h around 1899.)

The longitude of Belize in the 1787 map by William Faden had
the coastline much farther west at longitude greater than 89 degrees.
https://www.loc.gov/item/86692592/
The Roschshoof map from 1867 is closer to modern longitudes.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4820.lh000157/

Ships with significant draft cannot approach Belize City, and it is
plausible that the conventional time for Belize was set for a
longitude off shore where the ships could anchor as contrasted
with any point on the land itself.

The 1912 record for the change in the time should be believed
whether or not it corresponds to a longitude of a known place.

--
Steve Allen                    <sla at ucolick.org>              WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260  Natural Sciences II, Room 165  Lat  +36.99855
1156 High Street               Voice: +1 831 459 3046         Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064           https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/  Hgt +250 m


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