So long, and thanks for all the longitude

After 19 years of tinkering John Harrison finally worked all the bugs out of his time-piece, the marine chronometer. To prove its reliability, he took it on a voyage from England to Jamaica.

“Harrison conducted a round-trip test at sea from Britain to Jamaica through the Caribbean via the Atlantic from 1761 to 1762. The watch lost only 5.1 seconds in 81 days, reaching the level of accuracy required to receive a £20,000 reward.

But just then a rival named Nevil Maskelyne, the head of the Greenwich Observatory and a member of the Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude, was vying to receive the same award for his astronomical theory. Maskelyne refused to recognize Harrison’s success. To Harrison’s chagrin, he was granted only a few thousand pounds.”
https://museum.seiko.co.jp/en/knowledge/inventors_02/

Well, how do you like that? This is why Maskelyne is always cast as the villain in this story. Seems like a conflict of interest to be on the Longitude Board if you’re also a competitor for the prize. It would be quite a while before Harrison finally got his reward—and that was only because King George III* stepped in to make the Board pay up.

My pal Kathryn Lasky wrote an award-winning book about John Harrison’s story, The Man Who Made Time Travel:
https://www.kathrynlasky.com/books/book/the-man-who-made-time-travel

Kathryn and I worked on Two Bad Pilgrims together. https://www.kathrynlasky.com/books/book/two-bad-pilgrims

* George III ruled Great Britain during the American Revolution. He was an enthusiastic friend to the Royal Navy. It was George who decreed that his sailors could toast the king’s health sitting down, because the deck-beams in the wardroom (officers’ dining room) were so low you’d likely crack your head if you stood.

Back to the beginning of The Western Civ User’s Guide to Time & Space