Solving the Longitude Problem for Navigation

The Board of Longitude consisted of scientists, naval officers and government officials, which were a panel of judges that were established by the Longitude Act. They could give a stimulant amount of awards to help impoverished inventors bring promising ideas to ultimate success.  The board was the world’s first official research and development agency. In order to judge the accuracy of any proposal the method had to be tested on one of Her Majesty’s ships as it sailed “over the ocean, from Great Britain to any such Port in the West Indies as those Commissioners Choose… without losing their longitude beyond the limits before mentioned”

        The Board of Longitude set a trial for John Harrison’s watch in 1761. The device was put to the test by the means of an 81-day Atlantic crossing. It only lost 5 seconds. The Board delayed awarding Harrison the prize claiming that certain rules had been broken and that the accuracy of the time piece was just luck. They gave Harrison 2,500 pounds. The Board of Longitude made Harrison go forth a next grueling trial to test the Watch. In March 1764 William set sail for the Barbados. The timepiece completed the voyage superbly with only one error of 34.4 seconds over seven weeks. The Board decided that John Harrison had to turn over all four clocks to get the rest of his prize money.  Harrison felt “extremely ill used by the gentlemen who I might have expected better treatment from”. He then decided to obtain help from King George II. King George tested No.5 himself at the palace and when it had lost only four and a half seconds in ten days, he told Harrison to petition Parliament for the full award.

Parliament was desperate to find the solution of the longitude problem and when they suddenly found the perfect solution- a watch that could tell the exact time, they thought it was unbelievable. They tried to understand it more too. They wanted it to be perfect for the sea captains out there.