The drifting harbour clock

Tavi Cole

Recorded packet handler

“Establish my packet, location and event from the verified custody record.”

Lena Ford

Recorded packet handler

“Establish my packet, location and event from the verified custody record.”

Oren Bell

Recorded packet handler

“Establish my packet, location and event from the verified custody record.”

Pera Dean

Recorded packet handler

“Establish my packet, location and event from the verified custody record.”

VERIFIED RECORD B

The departure strip

The sending clock printed 10:08 at departure. The line then took exactly 17 real minutes to deliver the complete message.

Recover the civil departure, then add the transmission interval.

VERIFIED RECORD C

Town-time agreement

The receiving town keeps local time 30 minutes ahead of the sending town’s civil time. The question asks for receiving-town local time.

Apply the town offset after recovering the arrival.

CONTEXT NOTE

Envelope description

The envelope was cream paper with a blue border. Its appearance does not date the signal.

This describes the setting; it does not establish the requested result.

VERIFIED RECORD A

Two calibration marks

At civil 08:00 the sending clock showed 08:04. At civil 12:00 it showed 12:12. Its error increased at a constant rate between those checks.

Use both marks to recover the clock’s rate, rather than assuming a fixed offset.

RECONSTRUCTION RECORD

Packet proposal index

This is the same investigation’s packet custody record. There are 4 ordered events, labelled Review 1, Review 2, Review 3, Review 4. Each listed person, location and item occurs exactly once. These slots describe record order, not times from the analytical problem. Each packet contains the proposed reconstruction shown in the index. Solve the original three analytical records to identify the supported proposal, then trace its packet to its handler. Control packets have no proposal and cannot be the target.

• The event handled by Pera Dean occupies slot 1 (Review 1).
• The event handled by Tavi Cole occurs immediately before the event involving “Packet Birch” (consecutive rows, with no event between them).
• The event handled by Lena Ford and the event involving “Packet Cedar” are exactly 2 positions apart, with 1 intervening event; this alone gives no direction.

Use each column’s choices exactly once. Verified relationships govern the board; proposed answers and later recollections do not override them.

RECONSTRUCTION RECORD

Custody sequence

The relationships below were verified independently. “A immediately before B” means A is in the row directly above B, with no row between them. Keep relationships from all worksheet sources together.

• The event at Review bench occupies slot 3 (Review 3).
• The event at Seal station occurs immediately before the event handled by Tavi Cole (consecutive rows, with no event between them).
• The event handled by Pera Dean is the same event as the event involving “Packet Amber”.

Use each column’s choices exactly once. Verified relationships govern the board; proposed answers and later recollections do not override them.

RECONSTRUCTION RECORD

Cross-check and accounts

The relationships below were verified independently. “A immediately before B” means A is in the row directly above B, with no row between them. Keep relationships from all worksheet sources together.

• The event handled by Pera Dean occurs immediately before the event at Seal station (consecutive rows, with no event between them).
• The event handled by Tavi Cole and the event at Reading desk are exactly 2 positions apart, with 1 intervening event; this alone gives no direction.

Use each column’s choices exactly once. Verified relationships govern the board; proposed answers and later recollections do not override them.