In a message dated 3/24/2001 8:30:02 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<<
     I have that same "eaten up" explanation in the back of my mind.  Leap
 Year is not good enough.  I know that the world clock at Greenwich is
 synched every night at midnight and I seem to remember this is where it is
 made up.  What do the Royal Horologists do when they "synch" those time
 keepers? >>

Iron Grasshopper,

Leap year is not the answer, and I don't think fudging the clock every night
accounts for it, either (besides which, what does the clock get fudged to?).
Part of the problem is that to navigate at sea, one must have very accurate
timing devices (as you no doubt know), and they can't suddenly eat up 3
minutes and change between 11:59 and 12:00 every night (and we'd know about
it if they did).

Ralph