Discussion between James K and Lambie

Okay... so yeah, "three bells" is a ships phrase... And yeah in the usual system of watches the bells go to eight... But is there a common and well know phrase "at nine bells" What I'm saying is that if this is a saying used by sailors, it is not well know by landlubbers. And the inclusion of "nine bells" is just a bit of "nautical colour". There is no internal evidence that the author intends the ironic meaning, because in most examples of "nine bells" it is being used incorrectly since most writers don't know what it means! This isn't about "3 bells" but only about "9 bells".