The Contest

When sailors sailed across the ocean, they could only tell their position using two methods.  When they were traveling from North to South, they could tell their position using Polaris, the North Star.  But, when they were traveling from East to West, they ran into a problem.  Pendulum clocks couldn't be used because the pendulums were highly sensitive and could be easily shaken, making the clocks inaccurate.   In 1707, a British fleet crashed into the Scilly Islands, killing two thousand soldiers and destroying four ships.  Seven years late, the British government offered twenty thousand pounds to whoever built a clock that would keep accurate time at sea.   This clock would have to be accurate to the second, so as to avoid another unfortunate accident.

    John Harrison, a carpenter, was the winner of the contest.  In 1728, John heard about the contest and began work on a solution.  Thirty-three years and three enormous clocks, John's small fourth clock was tested.  When the testing crew arrived in Jamaica 161 days later, the clock was only five seconds off.  John Harrison collected his prize money at the age of seventy-nine.