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| Paperback | |
| Hardback | |
| Audio-Cassette | |
By the eighteenth century, many lives had been lost at sea because of the difficulty there was in accurately working out longitude. A ship's latitude could easily be worked out using the instruments of the time and astronomical observation. Not so longitude.
What was needed was a clock which would remain accurate, withstanding all that a long, tempestuous sea-voyage could throw at it. The Board of Longitude of the British Government offered a £20,000 reward (a fortune in those days) to anyone who could satisfy their rigorous testing.
John Harrison (1693-1776) was an unknown clockmaker, a master of his craft. He bent his mind to the problem, and with successive versions, finally built a clock which would remain accurate on any sea voyage.
This book tells the story of his quest, and of the often vicious political machinations which threatened to deny him his rightful prize.
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