The Longitude Reward – its association with the founding and settlement of Australia
Compiled by Paul Wise, January 2015
Introduction
A competition, based on a three hundred year old idea to then solve the biggest scientific problem of the time, was announced in early 2014. In the eighteenth century more and more ships were being lost at sea because knowledge of their longitude was based on the vagaries of wind and tide. Thus for England, the then largest maritime nation, finding a way of accurately knowing longitude at sea was considered an imperative. The 1714 Longitude Act offered a £20,000 reward, considered to be the equivalent of £2 million today, to anyone who could provide a practical solution to this problem. This link will take you to a 2 minute video overview edited from the freely available Longitude video.
Figure 1 : Astronomer Royal (L-R) Professor Sir Martin Rees (current) and the Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811).
The twenty-first century Longitude Prize will be £10 million. This time, however, the prize will be for a solution to global antibiotic resistance. More detail can be found via this link. The chair of the 2014 Longitude Committee is the present Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Martin Rees, and the organisers will ensure the rules for winning the prize will be precisely defined. This will ensure that the so called foul play, associated with the 1714 reward by the then Astronomer Royal the Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, cannot occur.
While the term longitude prize is often used, in fact in the 1714 Act the term used was a reward for finding Longitude at Sea. However, the 2014 organisers use the term prize fund. To be clear, in respect of the 1714 and follow-on Longitude Acts discussed in this paper, there were many recipients of cash rewards under these Acts, hence the term reward and not prize will be used.
The Longitude Act of 1714
As eighteenth century English maritime activities increased so did their maritime losses. These increased losses of life, vessels and goods were mostly due to an imperfect knowledge of longitude. Latitude at sea could easily be determined from the altitude of celestial bodies. Early sailors, however, had no way to measure their longitude other than by estimating the number of miles sailed east or west of their last port, which was often little more than inspired guesswork. A petition to Parliament from the maritime community resulted in a Parliamentary committee being formed. The members of this committee included among others, Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley and Samuel Clarke. In his remarks to the committee Newton actually suggests the use of an accurate Watch as one solution but implied that such a solution may not ever eventuate! This committee finally recommended that a reward should be offered for finding longitude at sea.
An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea was then enacted by Queen Anne on July 20, 1714 (12 Anne, Statute 2, Chapter 15). The preamble to the act recognised that nothing is so much wanted and desired at sea, as the discovery of the longitude, for the safety and quickness of voyages, the preservation of ships, and the lives of men…. While then noting that options for finding longitude existed, the act pointed out that these proposals would require funding to realise and test them in practice. The act therefore appointed Commissioners to make the necessary decisions regarding the allocation of funds for the development and testing of suitable proposals. Ultimately, the Commissioners could decide if any method met the criteria for the major reward specified under the act. The Commissioners later became known as members of the Board of Longitude.
Figure 2 : Theatrical view of a Board of Longitude meeting.
The 1714 Act listed those holding the following positions as initial Commissioners; the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain or the First Commissioner of the Admiralty, Speaker of the House of Commons, First Commissioner of the Navy, First Commissioner of Trade, Admirals of the Red, White and Blue Squadrons, Master of Trinity House, President of the Royal Society, Astronomer Royal and Savilian, Lucasian and Plumian Professors of Mathematics at Oxford and Cambridge. The act further named the following individuals as Commissioners; Earl Thomas of Pembroke and Montgomery, Lord Philip Bishop of Hereford, Lord George Bishop of Bristol, Lord Thomas Trevor, Sir Thomas Hanmer Baronet Speaker of the House of Commons, The Honourables Francis Robarts, James Stanhope, William Clayton and William Lowndes. By best accounts from the total list of 26 positions and names only 22 Commissioners were initially constituted.
Nearly forty years on, as a number of the original Commissioners were now deceased, the 1753 Act of George the Second, Chapter 25, added the following positions to the list of Commissioners; Governor of the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, Secretaries of the Treasury, Secretary of the Admiralty, Comptroller of the Navy. The last position added to the list of Commissioners by the 1765 act, was the Lowndean Professorship of Astronomy at Cambridge, founded in 1749. While it is not clear just how many Secretaries might have held positions, by 1749 at a minimum the Commissioners were drawn from some 23 official positions. Nevertheless, it would appear that at best only half of the Commissioners nominated met at any one time.
Funding for experiments under the act was limited to £2,000. For the first to discover a proper method of finding the said longitude the reward was based on the accuracy of the method ultimately provided. The reward was £10,000 if the method found longitude to within one degree of the great circle (60 nautical miles), £15,000 if within two-thirds of a degree (40 nautical miles) and £20,000 if within half a degree (30 nautical miles). Half the reward was to be paid when the majority of the Commissioners agreed that the method for finding longitude remained accurate for a ship sailing up to eighty nautical miles from shore. The other half of the reward would be paid if the method then remained accurate for a ship sailing from Great Britain to the West Indies. If the method for finding longitude did not meet these criteria but was still considered useful, the Commissioners could pay the inventor what they saw as appropriate.
By 1774 when all former acts concerning the finding of longitude at sea were repealed, a total of seven acts existed relating to this issue. In addition, there was the 1741 Act for surveying the Chief Ports and Head Lands on the Coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Islands and Plantations thereto belonging, in order to the more exact Determination of the Longitude and Latitude thereof plus the 1773 Act for:…paying to John Harrison a further Reward for his invention of a time keeper for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea. This 1773 Act was actually what is known today as a Supply Act and gave the then king money for specific purposes. A summary of all the Acts relating to the finding of Longitude is at Annexure A. Why the king wanted money to reward John Harrison outside that provided by the Longitude Act was brought about by the age-old controversy of religion versus science.
Maskelyne (1732-1811) versus Harrison (1693-1776)
In 1765 the then Astronomer Royal, the Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, assumed the chair of the Board of Longitude. With his background Maskelyne believed longitude could be found from the heavens with astronomy, as was latitude. This belief and being chair of the Board clouded his judgement when it came to assessing other options for finding longitude. This was especially true when it came to John Harrison and his timekeepers. When King George ultimately heard of the Board’s treatment of Harrison the king is said to have remarked:…these people [the Harrisons] have been cruelly wronged….
Figure 3 : John Harrison with his watch against a stylised background of lines of longitude over the sea and solar system.
Nevertheless, in his own efforts to develop an astronomical solution to longitude determination, Maskelyne left a valuable legacy that was used for nearly a century. The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris was first published in 1767. Along with other information, the almanac provided tables of lunar distances which gave the distance of the Moon from the Sun and selected stars suitable for lunar observations. Maskelyne’s publication later became the standard almanac for mariners worldwide. As the almanac was based on the Royal Observatory’s observations, it helped lead to the international adoption of Greenwich Mean Time as the standard. The importance of Maskelyne’s work was that the lunar distance method or lunar distances was a way of finding longitude without knowing an accurate time. However, it was a complex and computationally intensive observation, had some limitations as the moon was not consistently visible, and could not meet the required accuracy standard dictated by the Longitude Act.
While the reward for a solution to finding longitude at sea was finally given to John Harrison, competing against the scientific and academic establishment of the time was no easy task. Born into the family of a carpenter and with little formal education his efforts were not taken seriously. Thus he had to prove himself and his timekeepers every step of the way.
In 1713 at age 20 Harrison built his first clock which survives today. It was made entirely from wood a material with which Harrison would have been very familiar. At the time mechanical clocks were unreliable generally because the lubrication used was itself of poor quality. Designing a clock that did not need lubrication negated that problem. More difficult would be regulating a clock that would have to sit on an inherently unstable platform such as a sailing ship! To determine longitude at sea, however, Harrison would have to do just that.
Harrison's Marine Timekeeper, Number 1 or H1
H1 was constructed between 1730 and 1735 and was essentially a portable version of Harrison's precision wooden clocks. It was spring-driven and only ran for one day without rewinding. The moving parts were controlled and counterbalanced by springs so that, unlike a pendulum clock, H1 was independent of the direction of gravity. Refer Figure 4. It was nearly 1 meter wide and 70 centimetres high and constructed of bronze, steel, brass along with oak and Lignum Vitae. Lignum Vitae or Tree of Life is the national tree of the Bahamas and its wood was imported into Europe as early as the sixteenth century. In addition to being strong, hard, heavy, dense, water- and salt-water-resistant, Lignum Vitae contains natural oils that make it self-lubricating when used for bearings.
In May-June 1736, Harrison and H1 travelled to Lisbon aboard the ship Centurion to test the clock, returning on the Orford. H1 performed well in the trial, keeping time accurately enough for Harrison to correct a misreading of the Orford's longitude on the return voyage. Eight members of the Board of Longitude assembled on June 30, 1736 to review the feat of Harrison’s marvellous machine. This meeting of the Board was also historic in that it was its first in 23 years.
Although having every right to make a claim on the reward that day, the perfectionist in Harrison saw him offer to make an improved version of his clock. If the Board advanced him some funds the improved model was promised within two years. Harrison wanted an advance of £500 but the Board promised £250 as soon as possible and the other half on surrender of the new clock for the Use of the Public. The Board’s financial records show Harrison was paid his £250 on 30 June 1737, for enabling him to make an Experiment of a Machine invented by him in the nature of Clock Work to keep Time at Sea….
Figure 4 : John Harrison’s Marine Timekeeper, Number 1 or H1.
Harrison's Marine Timekeeper, Number 2 or H2
Larger and heavier than H1, H2 was of fundamentally of the same design as H1. Refer Figure 5. Harrison began work on H2 in 1737 but in 1740 realised that the bar balances did not always counter the motion of a ship, a deficiency that could be corrected if the balances were circular. The ever perfectionist, Harrison again did not make a claim on the reward and sought approval from the Board for a third, smaller model. Thus H2 never went to sea.
Unlike H1, H2 was more rectangular in shape and over 1 centimetre taller than H1. A further difference was that Harrison did not use oak in its construction.
The Board’s financial records show Harrison was paid £500 on 16 January 1741, on Account of his making a Machine with Improvements upon two Others before contrived by him.
Figure 5 : John Harrison’s Marine Timekeeper, Number 2 or H2.
Harrison's Marine Timekeeper, Number 3 or H3
Harrison commenced work on H3 immediately, incorporating two of his own inventions; (a) a bimetallic strip, to compensate the balance spring for the effects of changes in temperature, and (b) a caged roller bearing, the ultimate version of his anti-friction devices. H3 was some 5 centimetres shorter than H1 with bronze, glass, steel and brass used in its construction. Refer Figure 6. In June 1746 and again in July 1753 on Account of bringing his Third Machine to Perfection and on Account of Improving and Compleating (sic) his Third Machine, Harrison received a further £500 on each occasion.
By 1753, Harrison who was now living in London had become acquainted with many of those involved in allied clock and watch-making activities. Seeking a watch he could use for astronomical observing and clock testing he turned to John Jefferys a London watchmaker. Jefferys’ watch, which still exists today, was made to Harrison’s specifications. The watch was found to be so reliable that it is reported that Harrison kept it in his pocket. Due to its performance some consider Jefferys’ watch the first true precision timepiece. Although Harrison was still working on H3, the Jefferys’ watch he carried started to influence his thinking. Harrison came to realise that if certain improvements were made, the pocket watch had the potential to keep very accurate time.
John Jefferys (1701–1754) began his apprenticeship with watchmaker Edward Jagger on 4 November 1717. After nine years at the trade, on 26 January 1726 he became a member of the Clockmakers Company of London. It appears that his business was sound as in 1735 he apprenticed Larcum Kendall. After Jefferys’ death, Larcum Kendall took over his workshop.
Seeking continued funding from the Board, in 1755 Harrison asked for support:…to make two watches, one of such size as may be worn in the pocket; the other bigger…having good reason to think from the performance of one already executed…that such small machines may be render'd capable of being of great service with respect to the Longitude at Sea…. Harrison received the Board’s approval and in June 1755 on Account of Adjusting his Third Machine and making two Watches and again in November 1757 on Account of further Adjusting of his Third Machine and compleating (sic) Two Watches, he received a further £500 on each occasion. Although by 1757 Harrison had just about completed the work on H3 he was not satisfied with its performance.
Figure 6 : John Harrison’s Marine Timekeeper, Number 3 or H3.
Harrison's Marine Timekeeper, Number 4 or H4
When H4 was revealed in 1759, it surprisingly bore no resemblance to its three predecessors. Refer Figure 7. Just 13 centimetres in diameter and weighing 1.45 kilograms, it looked like a very large pocket watch. Harrison used copper, diamond, enamel, glass, ruby, silver, steel and brass in its construction. In June 1760, Harrison received a further £500 on Account of bringing to Perfection his Third Machine & Compleating (sic) a large Watch. For his nearly 20 years of work, mainly on H3, Harrison had received a total of £3,000.
To test H4, Harrison's son William set sail for the West Indies aboard the ship Deptford on 18 November 1761. On arrival in Jamaica on 19 January 1762, H4 was found to be only 5.1 seconds slow. The return journey on the Merlin was a nightmare for William. Water entered the ship in the rough seas and William had to protect H4 by wrapping it in a blanket and keeping it dry with his body heat. Although very ill by the end of the voyage William was delighted that, with his precautions, the watch’s total error was under 2 minutes. The reward was theirs!
Not so. The Board stated in August 1762:…tho' not sufficiently ascertained to be of such great use in Discovering the Longitude at sea as required by Act of Parliament of the 12th of Queen Anne to be nevertheless an Invention of considerable Utility to the Publick and in that view deserving a Reward. Harrison thus received £1,500 with another £1,000 payable after a second trial. In addition, in 1763 An Act for the Encouragement of John Harrison, to publish and make known his Invention of a Machine or Watch, for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea was proclaimed. The act was intended to enforce the Commissioners’ directions that Harrison make a full and clear Discovery of the Principles of his latest timekeeper to eleven named witnesses so that the details could be published in order to allow other clockmakers to reproduce the designs. Harrison feared full disclosure would negate his chance for claiming the full reward and seemingly ignored this requirement.
On 28 March 1764, the second trial of H4 began when William departed for Barbados aboard the Tartar. During the voyage of 47 days the watch's error was computed to be 39.2 seconds, three times better than that required to win the £20,000 reward. Returning on the New Elizabeth on 4 June, William was back in England on 31 August. During its 156 day absence the watch had gained only 56 seconds. The official result was an average error of 39.1 seconds.
Figure 7 : John Harrison’s Marine Timekeeper, Number 4 or H4.
Despite this success William was most unhappy to have found that on his arrival in the West Indies, one of those sent to judge the watch’s performance was a rival for the reward the Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne. When challenged about his ability to be impartial Maskelyne became unnerved. In such a state Maskelyne made a mess of the astronomical observation he was to perform as a judge, even though those present recalled there wasn’t a cloud in the sky!
In September 1764, the Board of Longitude paid Harrison the promised £1,000, his Son having been in the West Indies to make a further Trial of his Watch as was directed….
The preamble to the 1765 Act of George the Third, Chapter 20, clearly stated that:…by means of the said watch or time keeper invented by Mr John Harrison the said ship did not lose its longitude beyond ten geographical miles; and whereas the method for finding longitude at sea…by means of said watch or time keeper…may be made generally practicable, and of general utility, if the principles…are fully discovered and explained, and other watches or time keepers of the same kind can be made…. This act eventuated as the Board doubted that under the spirit of the 1714 Act they could pay Harrison the £20,000 reward without Harrison’s full disclosure and duplication of his invention. Harrison never expected the Board to take this approach. To make matters worse in Harrison’s view, on 8 February 1765 his main rival for the longitude reward the Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, took office as the fifth Astronomer Royal.
Maskelyne was a successor to John Flamsteed (1646-1719), Edmond Halley (1656-1742), James Bradley (1693-1762) and Nathaniel Bliss (1700-1764). Bliss was only Astronomer Royal for four years, but had been instrumental in sending Maskelyne to the West Indies to judge the second trial of H4 as described above. For the next 45 years Maskelyne would not only be the Astronomer Royal but also a Commissioner on the Board of Longitude.
Once his clocks, watches and documentation were handed over Harrison knew he would have no bargaining power. He soon realised, however, that he really had no option but to comply with the act. On 14 August 1765, a panel of six experts gathered at Harrison's house in London to learn about H4. The panel consisted of two Professors of Mathematics from Cambridge the Reverends John Mitchell and William Ludlam; Thomas Mudge, William Mathews and Larcum Kendall all respectable watchmakers with Kendall a former apprentice to John Jefferys who had made Harrison’s watch in 1753; and John Bird an instrument maker with an impeccable record for the supply of scientific equipment. Not surprisingly, Nevil Maskelyne was there too!
For the next week Harrison dismantled his watch explaining every detail and answering every question. The expert panel was satisfied that the disclosure was complete and signed a certificate to that effect. Nevertheless, the Board demanded that the watch be now reassembled and handed over. As Harrison had already delivered his watch’s documentation for printing as the Board required, this left him with no guide or drawings for him to construct the required two replica watches.
In October 1765, the Board paid Harrison £7,500 which with £2,500 already Advanced and paid to him makes up one Moiety [half] for explaining the Principles upon which it is constructed and Assigning the Property thereof as also of three several other Timekeepers constructed by him to the Commissioners of Longitude for the use of the Publick (sic). Having to now hand over his three original clocks (H1, H2 and H3), which were all operating perfectly in a room in Harrison’s home, was just another setback. The handover was made even more painful for Harrison when none other than Maskelyne arrived unannounced at his front door in April 1766. Maskelyne had a warrant to seize the clocks as they were now public property. Tempers flared and Harrison left the room as he did not want to see how his clocks would inevitably be mishandled. He was right to do so as Maskelyne’s workman dropped H1, and all three clocks were transported through London’s uneven streets in an unsprung cart! Only H4 received some care being transported by boat down the Thames.
All of Harrison’s timekeeping creations were installed in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Here H1, H2, and H3 would all be monitored while H4 underwent the ten months of testing, as required by the Board. In due course, Maskelyne as Astronomer Royal, reported back to the Board;… that Mr Harrison’s watch cannot be depended upon…. Harrison objected, rightly pointing out that Maskelyne had intended for his timekeeper to fail. Such was their animosity towards each other that after this event the two never spoke to each other again.
Around mid-1767, the Board contracted Larcum Kendall to make a copy of H4 to determine if Harrison’s watch could be reproduced and perform to the same standard as the original. The Board’s aim they said, was to ensure that under the act the method was practical and useful at sea. Kendall’s watch or K1 was presented to the Board in January 1770. The same men who had examined H4 at Harrison’s home in 1765 were again empaneled to judge K1. As Kendall was the watchmaker he rightly absented himself as a judge and his position was taken by Harrison’s son, William. The verdict was that K1 and H4 were identical. Refer Figure 8.
Larcum Kendall (1719-1790) was apprenticed to the watch, clock and repeating-motion maker John Jefferys for seven years on 7 April 1735. Kendall was fortunate to receive a significant inheritance from his maternal grandfather Nicholas Larcum. With access to such funding, once his apprenticeship had ended Kendall was immediately able to set up his own business, working almost exclusively for the great watch and clockmaker George Graham (1685-1751). In 1754, after the death of John Jefferys, Larcum Kendall took over his workshop. Kendall became a highly respected craftsman and working for Graham along with his contemporary Thomas Mudge (1715–1794), he was considered part of the finest watch making team of the day.
Harrison's Marine Timekeeper, Number 5 or H5
Harrison completed H5 to his satisfaction in 1772, after three years of manufacture and two of testing and adjusting. Refer Figure 9. For Harrison, now 79 years of age, the building of the required second replica just seemed too demanding. The Board of Longitude was asked to consider H5 and K1 as the two copies of H4, but they resolutely told John and William that both copies of H4 should be made by the Harrisons. Feeling extremely ill used by the gentlemen who I might have expected better treatment from (sic), Harrison appealed to King George whose response is stated above.
Figure 8 : Larcum Kendall’s copy of Harrison’s H4 or K1.
The king himself tested H5 and found it to be accurate to within one-third of one second per day. The Board of Longitude, however, refused to recognise the results of this trial, so John and William petitioned Parliament. Finally in 1773, when he was 80 years old, under an act of George the Third, Chapter 77, for paying to John Harrison a further Reward for his Invention of a Time-keeper for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea, and for his Discovery of the Principles upon which the same was constructed…and whereas John Harrison of Red Lion Square, having, under the encouragement of the Act…applied himself, with unremitting Industry for the space of Forty-eight Years, to the making an Instrument for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea; and having constructed a Time-keeper for that Purpose, and discovered the Principles of constructing the same, by which other Time-keepers have already been made, and found to answer with great exactness…a sum not exceeding eight thousand seven hundred and fifty Pounds as a further Reward and Encouragement, over and above the sums already received by him….
Despite receiving the £8,750, which Harrison felt was £1,250 less than the £10,000 he thought he should have received, Harrison was not really happy. This money was not the official reward from the Board of Longitude under the original act. Nevertheless, the act did recognise Harrison as having solved the longitude problem. Harrison was to survive for just three more years and although he never received the official reward it was of little comfort to him that neither did anyone else.
Figure 9 : John Harrison’s Marine Timekeeper, Number 5 or H5.
The 1774 Act of George the Third, Chapter 66, repealed all former Longitude Acts except those which appointed the Commissioners and those regarding the production of publications such as the Nautical Almanacs. It also reduced the rewards to half that previously offered and now clearly set out what was required to make a claim.
The Board of Longitude continued to operate and contribute to activities related to general navigation, science and technology including the improvement and testing of chronometers. The usefulness of the Board was questioned in the early 1800s especially after Maskelyne’s death in 1811, when the quality of the Nautical Almanac was criticised. Parliament ultimately abolished the Board of Longitude in 1828, replacing it with a Resident Committee for Scientific Advice for the Admiralty.
How much was Harrison paid for all his work?
Library and Internet research revealed varying amounts, mostly totalling above £20,000 as being paid to Harrison for his work. The most definitive account appears to be that contained in the 1998 paper by retired Lieutenant Commander Humphrey Derek Howse (1919-1998) Britain's Board of Longitude: The Finances 1714–1828. Howse extracts the amounts paid to Harrison from the Board of Longitude’s own records. A summary is attached at Annexure B. It clearly shows that the Board records a total of £13,250 being paid to Harrison. Added to this is the £8,750 he received from Parliament at the direction of the king. On this basis Harrison received £22,000 for his life-time’s work. Extra weight is added to these amounts being correct in that Parliament only paid £8,750 and not the £10,000 Harrison thought he should have received. With £13,250 already paid to Harrison by the Board at the time, a further £8,750 would see Harrison’s reward exceed that offered in the act, but at the same time also save some public money!
Figure 10 : Relative sizes of Harrison’s H1 to H4 with far right Kendall’s K1; overall approximately a 90% reduction in size.
Cook, Clocks and Terra Australis
Then Commander James Cook undertook his second voyage of discovery from 1772–1775. By circumnavigating the globe as far south as possible, Cook was to finally determine whether there was any great southern landmass, or Terra Australis. During the voyage other scientific experiments and explorations were also performed. One such experiment for the Board of Longitude, was to compare the lunar distance method for determining longitude with that as obtained from newly invented clocks. Harrison naturally wanted Cook to take his H4 but the Board of Longitude gave Cook Kendall’s K1. In addition, Cook also had three, what we today would call cheap and nasty, watches by John Arnold.
After setting up in business as a watchmaker, John Arnold (1736-1799) made a number of watches including one for the king. These demonstration pieces bought him to the attention of Maskelyne, who at the time was seeking a watchmaker skilled enough to make a copy of Harrison’s H4. While Kendall’s K1 was a successful timekeeper its production cost £450, a huge sum at the time. As the Admiralty wanted a timekeeper on every major ship, Kendall's model was too expensive and took too long to make. Encouraged by Maskelyne, Arnold revealed his production model watch to the Board of Longitude in March 1771. His watch was completely different from Harrison's watch and Arnold proposed to manufacture his timekeepers at 60 guineas or £63 each.
Figure 10 : John Arnold’s chronometers as used by James Cook on his second voyage.
During its voyage with Cook of three years, which ranged from the Tropics to the Antarctic, the daily rate of K1 never exceeded 8 seconds, corresponding to a distance of 2 nautical miles at the equator. Cook referred to K1 as our faithful guide through all the vicissitudes [changes] of climates. It is not known for certain whether Harrison knew of this success, but Cook's voyage proved beyond doubt that longitude could be obtained with a watch. Substantiating the old saying you get what you pay for, in contrast only one of Arnold's watches was still operating by the end of Cook’s voyage! Cook also had K1 on his third voyage of discovery to the South Seas (1776-1780), after which it went with Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet to found the first colony in Australia in 1788.
Other rewards paid by the Board of Longitude
During the period 1714-1774 the Board of Longitude paid rewards to others to make, develop and test proposals to improve navigation at sea. Messrs Whiston, Euler, Mayer, Bird, Ramsden, Sludge, Arnold, Earnshaw, and others, were rewarded for instruments and methods. A reward was paid for the Lunar Tables constructed by Tobias Mayer of Gottingen in Germany, on the principles of Sir Isaac Newton, and by the aid of theorems by Professor Euler of Berlin, as they were considered to be of use to the public for finding longitude. The widow of Tobias Mayer received a reward for providing the Board with the latest manuscript of her husband's tables and John Bird was rewarded for disclosing his method of dividing astronomical quadrants, which was more perfect than any before known.
Concluding remarks
While James Cook is credited with discovering Australia, it was his accurate recording, using Larcum Kendall’s copy of H4 or K1, of the geographical position of the east coast of the new continent that allowed its future settlement. After Cook’s discovery of Australia, Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet then returned to the region using K1. The fact that K1 worked so well, perhaps provided the unassailable proof that Harrison’s technology was sound and deserved the full Longitude Reward; it could not only maintain accurate time and determine longitude but could also be replicated in itself and its usefulness.
We easily remember Arthur Phillip and James Cook as part of Australia’s history. However, we should not overlook the impact on that history of the Longitude Reward, John and William Harrison, Nevil Maskelyne and the other navigational improvements the Act funded.
References
Baskett, Mark (1768), A Collection of Statutes Relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Ships of War, and Incidental Matters, London, 1768.
Commonwealth Government Handbook (1914), British Association for the Advancement of Science, (G.H. Knibbs, Ed.), Eighty-fourth Meeting, Australia, August 1914, AJ. Mullett, Government Printer. Melbourne.
Grabowski J, Meyer J & Tou E (2009), Method for determining the Longitude of places by observing Occultations of fixed stars by the Moon, originally published as Methode de determiner la longitude des lieux par l'observation d'occultations des étoiles fixes par la lune, Mémoires de l'académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres de Berlin 3 (1747) 1749, pp. 178-179.
Howse, Humphrey Derek (1998), Britain's Board of Longitude: The Finances 1714–1828, The Mariner's Mirror, Vol. 84, No. 4, pp. 400-417.
Johnson, Peter (1989), The Board of Longitude 1714-1828, Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. 99, No. 2, pp. 63-69. Personal copy.
Newton, W (1831), London Journal of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 6, pp. 350-357, London, 1831, accessed at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=azE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PP7&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
Raithby, John (1823), The Statutes Relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Shipping, and Navigation of the United Kingdom from 9 Henry III to 3 George IV inclusive, London, 1823, accessed at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=RYFPAAAAYAAJ
Sobel D and Andrewes, WJH (1998), Longitude, Fourth Estate Limited, London.
YouTube, (2010), Longitude, under the Standard YouTube License, accessed at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9dso7ATlSk
Annexure A
The legislation regarding finding the Longitude at Sea
Note : These acts were written using the long, medial or desscending ſ, which was formerly used where s occurred in the middle or at the beginning of a word (e.g "ſinfulneſs" is today "sinfulness").
|
Act Reference |
Year |
Title and Synopsis |
|
1714 |
An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea constituted the Commissioners to oversee the Act in practice and set up the main three tiered reward system as well as allowing up to £2,000 for investigating/testing promising proposals. |
|
|
1741 |
An Act for surveying the Chief Ports and Head Lands on the Coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Islands and Plantations thereto belonging, in order to the more exact Determination of the Longitude and Latitude thereof now clearly specified that the Commissioners appointed by 12th Anne in 1714 could pay up to £2,000 for any survey that would determine the longitude and latitude of any port(s) or place(s) ‘thereto belonging’. |
|
|
1753 |
An Act to render more effectual an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, with regard to the making Experiments of Proposals made for discovering the Longitude; and to enlarge the Number of Commissioners for putting in Execution the said Act recorded that John Harrison had been the recipient of several payments amounting to £1,250; William Whiston was appointed to survey and determine the longitude and latitude of the Chief Ports and Head Lands on the Coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Islands and Plantations thereto belonging, and was paid £500; a further £2,000, over and above the remaining £250 was granted and as a number of the original Commissioners were now deceased a further five (at least) Commissioners were appointed. |
|
|
1761 |
An Act for rendering more effectual an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, with regard to the making Experiments of Proposals made for discovering the Longitude granted the Commissioners a further £2,000 to pursue any proposals/experiments. |
|
|
1762 |
Act for the Encouragement of John Harrison, to publish and make known his Invention of a Machine or Watch, for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea documented that Harrison’s invention in the recent voyage to Jamaica was found to be “of considerable use to the public”. The Commissioners therefore awarded Harrison £2500, £1500 payable immediately and the remaining £1000 following a further successful trial. In addition, Harrison would receive a further £5000 only if he made “full and clear discovery of his said instrument”. This Act also stated that if in any future trial of Harrison’s instrument longitude was able to determine within one of the three criteria of 12th Anne of 1714 then any reward would first be reduced by the £2500 and £5000 already paid! However, the Act did effectively freeze any further payment of the longitude reward to any rival watchmaker until the merits of Harrison's instrument be ascertained (within four years of the passing of the Act). |
|
|
1765 |
An Act for rendering more effectual an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, with regard to the making Experiments of Proposals made for discovering the Longitude has a preamble longer than what is enacted but records that to date several persons have received a total of £6,000 under the Act. |
|
|
1765 |
An Act for explaining and rendering more effectual Two Acts, One made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, and the other in the Twenty Sixth Year of the Reign of King George the Second, intituled, An Act to render more effectual an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a public Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, with regard to the making Experiments of Proposals made for discovering the Longitude; and to enlarge the Number of Commissioners for putting in Execution the said Act. The preamble clearly recorded that “by means of the said watch or time keeper invented by Mr John Harrison the said ship did not lose its longitude beyond ten geographical miles; and whereas the method for finding longitude at sea…by means of said watch or time keeper…may be made generally practicable, and of general utility, if the principles…are fully discovered and explained, and other watches or time keepers of the same kind can be made…” The Commissioners, however, doubted that under the spirit of 12th Anne they could pay Harrison the £20,000 reward without Harrison’s full disclosure and duplication of his invention. Nevertheless, under this Act the Commissioners awarded Harrison ‘one moiety [half] of the greatest reward’ or £10,000 (less the £2500 already paid previously) and six months to deliver his ‘instrument’ together with full documentation and two further working examples. If these instruments proved successful then Harrison would receive the remaining £10,000. The Commissioners also recognised the advances in nautical almanacs and lunar ephemerides rewarding Prof Euler with £300 and the widow of Tobias Mayer £3,000 for their contributions. The Lowndes’ Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge was appointed a Commissioner and the Commissioners were given the power to oversee the construction, publication and sale of any nautical tables or almanacs with severe penalties for unauthorised publications. |
|
|
1770 |
An Act for rendering more effectual several Acts for providing a public Reward for discovering the Longitude at Sea; for improving the Lunar Tables constructed by the late Professor Mayer; and for encouraging Discoveries and Improvements useful to Navigation. As the money placed at the disposal of the Commissioners had been expended a further sum not exceeding £5,000 was granted. |
|
|
1773 |
An Act for granting to His Majesty a certain sum of Money out of the Sinking Fund; and for applying certain Monies therein mentioned for the Service of the year one thousand and seventy-three; and for further appropriating the Supplies granted in this Session of Parliament; and for paying to John Harrison a further Reward for his invention of a time keeper for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea, and his Discovery of the Principles upon which the same was constructed. This Act resulted in Harrison being awarded an additional sum of £8750 as a 'further Reward and Encouragement'. |
|
|
1774 |
An Act for the Repeal of all former Acts concerning the Longitude at Sea, except so much thereof as relates to the Appointment and Authority of the Commissioners thereby constituted, and also such Clauses as relate to the constructing, printing, publishing, vending, and licensing of Nautical Almanacks, and other useful Tables; and for the more effectual Encouragement and Reward of such Person and Persons as shall discover a Method for finding the same, or shall make useful Discoveries in Navigation; and for the better making Experiments relating thereto. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note for example : 3 Geo. 3. Cap. 14. - refers to the third year of the reign of the monarch, the monarch George the Third, chapter (abbreviated to ‘Cap.’ or ‘c.’) number fourteen. Further the year of reign starts when the monarch ascended the throne and is therefore not aligned with the calendar year. Thus a year of reign can fall across two calendar years. intituled : give a specified title to (an Act of Parliament). |
||
Annexure B
BRITAIN'S BOARD OF LONGITUDE: THE FINANCES, 1714-1828
Harrison, John, clockmaker
|
|
Date |
Subject |
Amount (£ -s-d) |
Sub-totals £ |
Total £ |
Notes |
|
|
1737 June 30 |
Timekeepers H1 and H2 after Lisbon trial - "For enabling him to make an Experiment of a Machine invented by him in the nature of Clock Work to keep Time at Sea and to make another of the same Nature but smaller Dimensions.” |
250-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
250.00 |
250.00 |
|
|
|
|
1741 January 16 |
Timekeeper H3 - "On Account of his making a Machine with Improvements upon two Others before contrived by him." |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1746 June 4 |
Timekeeper H3 - "On Account of bringing his Third Machine to Perfection". |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1753 July 17 |
Timekeeper H3 - "On Account of Improving and Compleating his Third Machine." |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1755 June 19 |
Timekeepers H3 and H4 - "On Account of Adjusting his Third Machine; and making two Watches." |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1757 November 28 |
Timekeepers H3 and H4 - "On Account of further Adjusting of his Third Machine and compleating the Two Watches." |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1760 Jun 18 |
Timekeepers H3 and H4 - "On Account of bringing to Perfection his Third Machine & Compleating a large Watch." |
500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,000.00 |
3,250.00 |
|
|
|
1762 August 7 3 Geo 3 c.14 |
Timekeeper H4 - "Reward for the Invention of his watch, it appearing, tho' not sufficiently ascertained to be of such great use in Discovering the Longitude at sea as required by Act of Parliament of the 12th of Queen Anne to be nevertheless an Invention of considerable Utility to the Publick and in that view deserving a Reward; According to a Certificate from the Commissioners of the Longitude dated the 17th August 1761 - In part of £2,500-0-0." |
1,500-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1762 August 7 3 Geo 3 c.14 |
Timekeeper H4 - "For the last proportion of the Reward mentioned in the preceding Article [£2,500], his Son having been in the West Indies to make a further Trial of his Watch as was directed when the first Proportion was paid him; according to a certificate from the said Commissioners dated the 18th September 1764." |
1,000-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1765 October 28 5 Geo 3 c.20 |
Timekeeper H4 - "Reward for the Invention of his Watch or Timekeeper, explaining the Principles upon which it is constructed and Assigning the Property thereof as also of three several other Timekeepers constructed by him to the Commissioners of Longitude for the use of the Publick £7,500, which with £2,500 already Advanced and paid to him makes up one Moiety of the greatest Reward directed by the Act made in the 12th year of the reign of Queen Anne to be paid to the first Author or Authors of a proper Method for finding the Longitude at Sea." |
7,500-0-0
|
|
|
Awarded £10,000 less £2,500 already paid |
|
|
|
|
|
10,000 |
13,250 |
|
|
|
1773 July 3 13 Geo 3 c.77 |
Timekeepers - Granted by Parliament - "and for paying to John Harrison a further Reward for his Invention of a Time-keeper for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea, and for his Discovery of the Principles upon which the same was constructed..." And whereas John Harrison of Red Lion Square, having, under the encouragement of the Act...applied himself, with unremitting Industry for the space of Forty-eight Years, to the making an Instrument for ascertaining the Longitude at Sea; and having constructed a Time-keeper for that Purpose, and discovered the Principles of constructing the same, by which other Time-keepers have already been made, and found to answer with great exactness; from which Discovery ... Treasurer of His Majesty's Navy ... a sum not exceeding eight thousand seven hundred and fifty Pounds as a further Reward and Encouragement, over and above the sums already received by him..." |
8,750-0-0 |
|
|
Paid under a separate act so is not in the Board's accounts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
8,750.00 |
22,000 |
|