The 1pm Bang
The visitor should anticipate a loud explosion on the dot of 1pm every day (except weekends) and refrain from throwing themselves to the ground. It is a time for locals to double-check their watches as the unwary look around for the source of the impending attack. The gun is fired on the dot of one pm from the Mills Mount Battery on the Edinburgh Castle battlements. This is a tradition that had a practical basis. It derived from the mid 19th century when chronometers (watches) were essential for seen as essential for save navigation (the establishment of a ships position was calculated using formulas derived from using the suns position in the sky at a particular time of day). Departing captains in the Firth of Forth would check the accuracy of their chronometers by watching out for a time-signal, a ball on a flag staff on top of Nelson's monument that was dropped on the stroke of one o' clock. The gun was used as an audible signal to complement the dropping ball - so that the exact time could be communicated in times of fog and mist (weather not exactly unknown to Scotland). The Edinburgh Post Office used to publish a handy guide following the time delay for visitors around Edinburgh (visitors in Leith for example, could expect to hear the gun 11 seconds after 1pm - due to the time it takes for sound to travel that distance). A history of the one o' clock gun may be found in Edinburgh Castle. The Ball is also still dropped daily at one O' Clock.
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