Ships, Clocks, and Stars: The Quest for Longitude

by Richard Dunn, Rebekah Higgitt

A tale of eighteenth century invention and competition, commerce and conflict, this is a lively, illustrated, and accurate chronicle of the search to solve “the longitude problem,” the question of how to determine a ship’s position at sea—and one that changed the history of mankind

The Quest for Longitude brings into focus one of our greatest scientific stories: the search to accurately measure a ship’s position at sea. The incredible, illustrated volume reveals why longitude mattered to seafaring nations, illuminates the various solutions that were proposed and tested, and explores the invention that revolutionized human history and the man behind it, John Harrison. Here, too, are the voyages of Captain Cook that put these revolutionary navigational methods to the test.

Filled with astronomers, inventors, politicians, seamen, and satirists, The Quest for Longitude explores the scientific, political, and commercial battles of the age, as well as the sailors, ships, and voyages that made it legend—from Matthew Flinders and George Vancouver to the voyages of the Bounty and the Beagle.

Timed to coincide with a traveling exhibit from Britain’s National Maritime Museum and featuring more than 150 photographs specially commissioned from it, this evocative, detailed, and thoroughly fascinating history brings this age of exploration and enlightenment vividly to life.

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction

516 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 14, 2014

About the author

Richard Dunn (1966-) is the Senior Curator and Head of Science and Technology at Royal Museums Greenwich. Richard is Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum, London, which involves managing a team of curators, as well leading on content and delivery of galleries, exhibitions and research and on the development of the collections. He has worked in the museum sector since 1992 in a range of curatorial and interpretation roles at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ragged School Museum, the British Museum, English Heritage and Royal Museums Greenwich.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a more neutral and scholarly look at the history of the longitude problem than Dava Sobel's book on the same topic. This is not to say that Sobel's entry is wrong, but that it essentially takes the position of John Harrison and chronometers as being treated somewhat shabbily while having for the most part solving the longitude problem.

Dunn's book does a better job (in my opinion) of pointing out the problems with the chronometer while also giving Harrison his great due as a brilliant inventor. Dunn also outlines the problems with the astronomical moon/lunar solution and also talks about the potential of using eclipses of Jupiter's moons to determine longitude. I thought the surrounding context of the era was well-explained here, and while not as engaging of a story as Sobel's entry, was more complete. For example, Dunn makes it clear that the solving of the longitude problem wasn't some sort of revolutionary experience, but an evolutionary one as the methods spread throughout the world's navies and merchant marine over decades.

Overall, I highly recommend this if you're interested in the history of the longitude problem. It is straightforwardly written, and I always felt engaged. Sobel's entry probably had more pizzazz from my recollection, but was much more focused on the story of John Harrison and his chronometers.

[Jamie Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

All History Books Should Be So Engaging

My paternal line Scottish great-great-grandfather, William Brydone Jack, was a pioneer in longitude in during the Victorian era, helping determine the first precise longitude in Canada using the telegraph with a fellow scientist at Harvard, so when I saw this book pop up at BookBub, I knew I had to check it out. I am so glad I did. How rare it is to find a book that details the history of a particular topic in such a delightful, easily accessible, conversational tone. It was actually a great read, let alone the story it shared. I also loved that this is just chock-full of quality images. This certainly added to my delight in reading this book. The book is logically laid out. If you're unfamiliar with the longitude problem in general, the authors detail that for you right away. Then they break down all the components of it and the trials and challenges over time. I found it a surprisingly gripping read. I'm so glad I decided to pick this up. If you have any interest in maritime history or are curious about things that we just take for granted today, like knowing precise longitude as we do today down to within a few feet thanks to GPS, you may very well enjoy this well-written history book.

My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com

[Jake Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of seafaring navigational tools and progress focused on the search for accurate and efficient ways to determine longitude. Lunar distance, magnetic variation, sound time/distance measurements, the nautical almanac and, most importantly, accurate chronometers derived from John Harrison's original accurate design. Sextants and their history and other sighting devices are covered along with all the inventors and their efforts. By the time most of these methods were perfected we had launched GPS. However, US Navy and Coast Guard are returning to training on the basic navigational tools in the event of GPS outage.

The book is well research and well written. Many excellent photos. It is a good follow-on to "Longitude" by Dava Sobel' which covers the race for the longitude prize, eventually won by john Harrison after beginning his project in 1737 and finishing it with H4 clock in the 1770s.

I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in sailing the blue waters and nautical history.

[Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not a page-turner but it was eminently readable, especially for a book with so much factual information in it. I like how it went beyond the initial discoveries that technically made longitude knowable and continued on to showing how it took time and effort for that to percolate out to where longitude was generally known. This book has many photographs, reproductions of historic documents (largely ships' logs), and paintings, many of which are quite fascinating to see. One of my unexpectedly favorite parts was the inclusion of some paintings made by the official artist from Cook's first expedition.

Fans of Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time will perhaps be miffed to see the hero and villain reversed with Makelyne painted as the heroic man of principle and Harrison characterized as something of a brilliant crank whose cantankerous inclinations made it difficult for his creations to achieve their full potential impact on the subject. Readers who prefer Harrison as the hero may view this account with suspicion as the Astronomer Royal Makelyne is lionized by a book essentially commissioned by the Royal Observatory, the very place from which Maskelyne's actions were taken!

[Geoff Atwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

We take the accuracy of clocks for granted. Same for longitude, look at any map and you will see the vertical lines that converge at the poles. This was not the case until well into the 19th century! It took decades to develop timepieces that would work reliably onboard a ship and more decades for manufacturing processes to mature. The combination of reliable timekeeping along with accurate astronomic observations made it possible to create the vertical lines on a map. Remarkably ships would cruise to the correct latitude and then follow the latitude to reach a destination. Straight-line navigation was highly risky due to shortcomings of dead reckoning.
This book details the English effort to use government sponsored science to solve an intractable problem. Many of the great minds in British science were involved and still more than a century passed before confidence in navigation spread through the fleets. Hard to believe when one considers the many everyday uses we see in GPS enabled technology. Makes one realize how far we have come in the span of a few generations.

[Mark Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent Scientific Treatise

A thorough and detailed analysis of how the attempt to fix the longitude was both painstaking and necessary for navigation. An indispensable primer for those interested in this most confounding and yet necessary answer to a mystery that had retarded the science of navigation for so long.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as interesting as I was expecting.

[Lance McNeill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful history of Longitude Prize

I’m conducting research on Longitude Prize of 1714 and this book was a wealth of information. It’s also very readable and a page turner.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a history book.

[Paul Tenorio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction. Learned a lot through Youtube videos which should be a standard for a book like this. Adding the math equations would also be great.

[Lloyd Fassett]

Oct 22 2014 - found it in Wall St Journal Sat Review. $75 book with lots of pictures, probably better in hard copy than electronically. I should look for it used in a year or two.