Finding Longitude
Page 20
11 Letter to Edmund Maskelyne, 15 May 1766.
12 BoL confirmed minutes, 26 April 1766, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 124 (CDL,
13 Copy of Kendall to the Commissioners of Longitude, 26 April 1766, Kendall Papers, BL Add MS 39822, f. 40.
14 William Ludlum to Larcum Kendall, 24 October 1765, Kendall Papers, BL Add MS 39822, ff. 36–7.
15 Extract from Minutes made at a Board of Longitude meeting, 12 September 1765, Kendall Papers, BL Add MS 39822, f. 35.
16 Copy of Kendall to the Commissioners of Longitude, 26 May 1770, Kendall Papers, BL Add MS 39822, f. 47.
17 Kendall to the Commissioners of Longitude, 26 May 1770.
18 Copy of Kendall to the Commissioners of Longitude, 13 June 1772, Kendall Papers, BL Add MS 39822, f. 48.
19 BoL confirmed minutes, 14 March 1767, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 146 (CDL,
20 Quoted in A. J. Turner, ‘Berthoud in England, Harrison in France: The Transmission of Horological Knowledge in 18th Century Europe’, Antiquarian Horology, 20 (1992), 219–39 (p. 233).
21 Johan Horrins [pseudonym of John Harrison’s grandson, John Harrison], Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III (London, 1835), p. 6.
22 BoL confirmed minutes, 28 November 1772, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 231 (CDL
23 Quoted in Humphrey Quill, John Harrison: The Man Who Found Longitude (London, 1966), p. 196.
24 Quoted in Ibid., p. 198–99.
25 BoL confirmed minutes, 24 April 1773, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 240 (CDL,
26 Parliamentary History of the House of Commons, 17 (1813), cols. 812–3, quoted in Derek Howse, Nevil Maskelyne – The Seaman’s Astronomer (Cambridge, 1989), p. 125.
27 House of Commons Journal, 34 (1772–74), 367, quoted in Howse, The Seaman’s Astronomer (1989), p. 125.
28 BoL confirmed minutes, 2 March 1771, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 203 (CDL,
29 W. Emerson, The Mathematical Principles of Geography, Navigation and Dialling (London, 1770), p. 172.
CHAPTER 5
Fig. 1
‘Various articles at Nootka Sound’, by John Webber (NMM PAI3913)
Fig. 2
Captain James Cook, by Nathaniel Dance, 1775–76 (NMM BHC2628)
Fig. 3
‘Chart of the Island of Otaheite [Tahiti]’ by James Cook, 1769 (NMM G267:47/1)
Fig. 4
Cook’s Resolution in the Marquesas Islands, by William Hodges, 1774 (NMM PAF5791)
Fig. 5
Captain Cook’s journal on the Resolution, 7 January 1774 (NMM JOD/20)
Fig. 6
View of Point Venus and Matavai Bay, Tahiti, by William Hodges, 1773 (NMM/MoD BHC1937)
Fig. 7
‘View of Maitavie [Matavai] Bay’, by William Hodges, 1776 (NMM/MoD BHC1932)
Fig. 8
‘Part of the Southern Hemisphere shewing the Resolution’s Track through the Pacific and Southern Ocean’, by Joseph Gilbert, c.1775 (UK Hydrographic Office)
Fig. 9
Draft list of instruments, by Nevil Maskelyne, dated 22 May 1776 (NMM AGC/8/29)
Fig. 10
‘Resolution and Discovery in Ship Cove, Nootka Sound’, by John Webber, 1778 (NMM PAJ2959)
Fig. 11
Chart of New Zealand, by James Cook, 1772 (NMM G263:1/2)
Fig. 12
Sextant, by Ramsden, London, c.1772 (NMM NAV1236)
Fig. 13
‘A Sea Otter’, by John Webber (NMM PAI3916)
Fig. 14
Marine timekeeper K2, by Larcum Kendall, London, 1771 (NMM ZAA0078)
Fig. 15
A branch of the breadfruit tree, from John Hawkesworth, An Account of the Voyages Undertaken ... in the Southern Hemisphere (London, 1773) (NMM PAJ1965)
Fig. 16
‘The Mutineers turning Lt Bligh and part of the officers and crew adrift’, by Robert Dodd, 1790 (NMM PAH9205)
Fig. 17
Marine timekeeper K3, by Larcum Kendall, London, completed in 1774 (NMM/MoD ZAA0111)
Fig. 18
‘A Chart showing part of the Coast of N.W. America’, drawn by George Vancouver, published by Robinson and Edwards, 1798 (NMM G278:1/1)
Fig. 19
‘Wreck Reef Bank’, by William Westall, August 1803 (MoD/NMM BHC1164)
Fig. 20
Lapérouse’s officers with the islanders on Sakhalin, from The Voyage of La Pérouse Round the World (London, 1798) (NMM PBN1856/2)
1 Christine Holmes (ed.), Captain Cook’s Second Voyage: The Journals of Lieutenants Elliott and Pickersgill (London, 1984), p. 45.
2 Quoted in Randolph Cock, ‘Precursors of Cook: The Voyages of the Dolphin, 1764–8’, Mariner’s Mirror, 85 (1999), 30–52 (p. 46).
3 Quoted in J. C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook (London, 1974), p. 154.
4 J. C. Beaglehole (ed.), The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery: The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771 (Cambridge, 1955), pp. 52–53.
5 Beaglehole, Endeavour, p. 392.
6 BoL, confirmed minutes, 28 November 1771, CUL RGO 14/5, p. 207 (CDL,
7 BoL, confirmed minutes, 14 May 1772, CUL RGO 14/5, pp. 223–24 (CDL,
8 J. C. Beaglehole (ed.), The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery – II: The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure 1772–1775 (Cambridge, 1969), p. 445.
9 Beaglehole, Resolution and Adventure, p. cxii.
10 Quoted in Derek Howse, ‘Captain Cook’s Marine Timekeepers – I: The Kendall Watches’, Antiquarian Horology, 6 (1969), 190–205 (p. 194).
11 Beaglehole, Resolution and Adventure, p. 660.
12 Ibid., pp. clxviii–clxix.
13 BoL instructions issued to William Wales, in Beaglehole, Resolution and Adventure, p. 726.
14 J. C. Beaglehole (ed.), The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery – III: The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery, 1776–1780 Part I (1967, reprinted Woodbridge, 1999), pp. 454–55.
15 James King, log of the Resolution, 12 February 1776 – 2 February 1778, TNA ADM 55/116, fol. 3r.
16 Beaglehole, Resolution and Adventure, pp. 524–55.
17 Ibid., pp. 579–80.
18 Beaglehole, Resolution and Discovery, p. 685.
19 King, log of the Resolution, fol. 2r.
20 Beaglehole, Resolution and Adventure, p. 726.
21 Ibid., pp. 524–25.
22 Christopher Lloyd and R. C. Anderson (eds), A Memoir of James Trevenen, Navy Records Society, 101 (1959), 53–54.
23 Georg Forster, Cook the Discoverer (Sydney, 2007), p. 197.
24 William Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea (London, 1792), p. 5.
25 William Bligh, Narrative of the Mutiny, on board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty (London, 1790), p. 3.
26 John Hawkesworth, An Account of the Voyages Undertaken ... in the Southern Hemisphere, 3 vols (London, 1773), I, p. 341.
27 George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World 1791–1795, ed. by W. Kaye Lamb, 4 vols (London, 1984), I, p. 309.
28 Ibid., pp. 313, 317, 320.
29 Ibid., p. 320.
30 James Smedley to the Commissioners of Longitude on behalf of John Crosley, 29 November 1803, CUL RGO 14/1, fols 171–72 (CDL,
31 Matthew Flinders to Nevil Maskelyne, 25 May 1802, CUL RGO 14/68, fol. 17v (CDL,
; 32 Louis de Bougainville, A Voyage Round the World (London, 1772), p. 242.
33 Luis R. Martínez-Cañavate (ed.), La Expedición Malaspina, 6 vols (Barcelona, 1994), VI, p. 124 (translation by Juan Pimentel).
34 Peter Fidler, journal entry, 18 December 1791, HBCA E 3/1, fol. 37, quoted in Peter Broughton, ‘The Accuracy and Use of Sextants and Watches in Rupert’s Land in the 1790s’, Annals of Science, 66 (2009), 200–29 (p. 214).
35 Thomas Jefferson, Instructions to Captain Merriweather Lewis, 20 June 1803, in Donald Jackson (ed.), Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783–1854 (University of Illinois, 1978), p. 61.
36 Robert Patterson to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1803, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, p. 29.
37 Thomas Brisbane, speech at Glasgow Observatory, 16 December 1836, State Library of New South Wales Mitchell MSS 1191/1/521.
38 Matthew Flinders, ‘Biographical tribute to his cat Trim 1809’, NMM FLI/11, p. 1.
39 William Wales, The Method of Finding the Longitude at Sea by Time-Keepers (London, 1794), pp. iv–v.
CHAPTER 6
Fig. 1
‘March of Intellect – Lord, how this world improves as we grow older’, by William Heath, published by Thomas McLean, London, 1829 (Private collection)
Fig. 2
Thomas Mudge, by Nathaniel Dance, c.1772 (Science Museum 1985-1362)
Fig. 3
Marine timekeeper ‘Green’, by Thomas Mudge, 1777 (Private collection)
Fig. 4
Mudge-type marine timekeeper no. 4, by Howells and Pennington, London, c.1794, in a later box (NMM/MoD ZAA0133)
Fig. 5
John Arnold and family, by Robert Davy, c.1783 (Science Museum 1868-248)
Fig. 6
Pocket chronometer no. 36, by John Arnold, London, 1778 (NMM ZBA1227)
Fig. 7
Thomas Earnshaw, by Martin Archer Schee, c.1808 (NMM BHC2674)
Fig. 8
Marine chronometer, by John Arnold, London, c.1790 (NMM ZAA0012)
Fig. 9
Marine chronometers nos. 512 and 524, by Thomas Earnshaw, London, c.1800 (NMM ZAA0006, ZAA0732)
Fig. 10
Escapement model, by Thomas Earnshaw, 1804 (NMM/MoD ZAA0123)
Fig. 11
Jesse Ramsden, by Robert Home, c.1791 (The Royal Society P/0107)
Fig. 12
Ramsden’s second dividing engine, from Description of an Engine for Dividing Mathematical Instruments (London, 1777) (NMM PBG0968)
Fig. 13
Sextant by Nathaniel Worthington, London, c.1840 (NMM NAV1214)
Fig. 14
‘Little Midshipman’ trade sign, late eighteenth century (NMM AAB0173)
Fig. 15
Models of a scoring machine and a mortising machine, by Marc Isambard Brunel and Henry Maudslay, c.1803 (NMM MDL0013, MDL0016)
Fig. 16
Babbage’s Difference Engine, from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1865 (Private collection)
Fig. 17
Four of the twenty-one volumes of Babbage’s Specimen of Logarithmic Tables (London, 1831) (Royal Observatory, Edinburgh)
Fig. 18
Mechanical log, by Edward Massey, London, c.1830 (NMM NAV0728)
Fig. 19
William Chavasse’s proposed observing platform, submitted in 1813 (CUL RGO 14/36, fol. 51)
Fig. 20
Samuel Parlour’s shoulder-mounted apparatus, submitted in 1824 (CUL RGO 14/30, fol. 504)
Fig. 21
Ralph Walker, published by James Asperne, 1803 (NMM PAD3061)
Fig. 22
Azimuth compass, designed by Ralph Walker, London, c.1793 (NMM NAV0263)
Fig. 23
Mercury log glass, made by William and Thomas Gilbert, London, c.1817 (NMM NAV0744)
Fig. 24
Insulating compass, by Jennings and Company, London, c.1818 (NMM ACO1517)
Fig. 25
John Couch’s ‘Calitsa’ for riding through surf, 1819 (CUL RGO 14/44, fol. 90)
1 C. B. Tennyson (ed.), A Carlyle Reader (Cambridge, 1984), p. 34.
2 James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (London, 1830), p. 535.
3 Daniel Defoe, A Plan of English Commerce (London, 1728), p. 300.
4 Sir Joseph Banks to William Windham MP, 20 April 1793, in Neil Chambers (ed.), The Letters of Sir Joseph Banks: A Selection, 1768–1820 (London, 2000), p. 151.
5 Quoted in Jonathan Betts, ‘Arnold, John (1735/6–1799)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004; online edn, May 2009),
6 William Ludlam to Nevil Maskelyne, 23 October 1783, quoted in Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons ... to whom the Petition of Thomas Mudge, Watchmaker, was referred (London, 1793), p. 96.
7 ‘Dr Maskelyne’s Abstract of the going of several timekeepers in a voyage to the Cape of good Hope’, CUL RGO 14/25, fol. 184v (CDL,
8 Thomas Earnshaw, Explanation of Timekeepers constructed by Thomas Earnshaw (London, 1805), p. 9.
9 The Morning Chronicle, 4 February 1806, p. 1.
10 Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia; or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature, VIII (London, 1819), 8.
11 Quoted in Anita McConnell, Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800): London’s Leading Scientific Instrument Maker (Aldershot, 2007), p. 48.
12 Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son (London, 1848), p. 24.
13 Charles Babbage, On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (London, 1832), p. 39.
14 H. W. Buxton, Memoir of the Life and Labours of the Late Charles Babbage, ed. by Anthony Hyman (Cambridge, Mass., 1988), p. 46.
15 Quoted in Peter J. Turvey, ‘Sir John Herschel and the Abandonment of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 1’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 45 (1991), 165–76 (p. 173).
16 G. S. Hillard (ed.), Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor (London, 1876).
17 Quoted in Doron Swade, ‘Babbage, Charles (1791–1871)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004; online edn, May 2009),
18 Bartholomew de Sanctis to the Board of Longitude, 26 October 1823, CUL RGO 14/40, fol. 431r (CDL,
19 Francis Higginson, ‘Instruments for facilitating and rendering accurate the methods of finding the Latitude and Longitude at Sea’, 1828, CUL RGO 14/31, fol. 278r (CDL,
20 John Ross, A Voyage of Discovery made under the orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty’s ships Isabella and Alexander (London, 1819), Appendix, p. cxxv.
21 H. C. Jennings to Lt General W. Wyngard, 4 December 1817, CUL RGO 14/31, fol. 214 (CDL,
22 Lieutenant John Couch to BoL, 1818–23, CUL RGO 14/44, fols 80r–94v (CDL,
23 John Bradley to the Lords of the Royal Navy, 9 January 1787, CUL RGO 14/39, fol. 29r (CDL,
24 Henry Croaker to BoL, 1819–20, CUL RGO 14/39, fols 74r–111v (CDL,
25 Walter Bedford to BoL, 7 February 1783, CUL RGO 14/39, fol. 17r (CDL,
26 John Croker in a House of Commons debate on the Corporate Funds Bill, 4 July 1828, quoted in The Times, 5 July 1828.
CHAPTER 7
Fig. 1
‘Loss of the Magnificent, 25 March 1804’, by John Christian Schetky, 1839 (NMM BHC0534)
Fig. 2
The time bal
l at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Illustrated London News, 9 November 1844 (NMM C4102)
Fig. 3
Deck scene, with two men taking Sun observations from the quarterdeck, by Thomas Streatfeild, 1820 (NMM PAI4318)
Fig. 4