The Cape Town Noon Gun is a time signal, a cannon which fires every day at noon. They go off every day except Sundays and public holidays. The tradition dates back to 1806, when wristwatches were not a thing, and timekeeping on ships was near-impossible. So Cape Town, a major port nicknamed “the Tavern of the Seas,” had many visiting vessels who recalibrated their time to the local noon based on when the gun went off.
The tradition of the Cape Town Noon Gun even survived the transfer from British colony to independent nation in 1910. It has fired every day since 1806 – with only one misfire in 213 years!
