States of Holland 36
steam power 158, 162, 221
Stokes, John Lort 211–14, 214–15, 217
Stokes, Pringle 210
storms 17, 19, 28, 30, 82
Strait of Gibraltar 31
Strait Le Maire 131
Streatfeild, Thomas, deck scene (1820) 193
Stukeley, William 77
Sully, Henry 62, 63, 77
Sun 21, 22, 45, 93
eclipses 25–8, 45, 73, 112, 129
effect on the motion of the Moon 56, 56, 96
transit of Venus across 98, 128, 129
transits of the 112
surveying 50, 137–44, 150, 154–5, 192, 202–7, 211–21, 223
Swallow (ship) 129, 147
Swift, Jonathan 66, 76
Tables Requisite 109, 110–12, 147, 155
Tahiti 128–9, 129, 131, 132–3, 134–5, 151
breadfruit 145, 145, 146–7
Tartar (ship) 101
Tassie, James, medallion portrait of John Harrison (c.1776) 122
tea 17
telescope 45–50, 50, 73, 137, 138, 194
temperature compensation 77, 88, 166
terrella 42, 43
Thacker, Jeremy, The Longitudes Examin’d (1714) 72, 73–6
theodolite 215, 216
Thomson, John, New General Atlas (c.1830) 200
three-body problem 56, 96, 98
Ticknor, George 175
tides 31
Tierra del Fuego 30, 82, 208–9, 210
timber 144
time ball 192–3, 192
timekeeper see chronometer; clock; watch
timekeeper method of longitude measurement 39, 57–63, 58–62, 70–3, 93, 104, 114–25, 114–21, 126, 156–7, 178, 192–3
affordable timekeepers 108–9, 116–17, 119–22, 157–8, 162–72
French trials 151
John Harrison on 76, 77–89, 78, 82, 85, 87, 92, 102–3
method 212–13
Nautical Almanac for 108
Spanish trials 154–5
testing on Cook’s voyages 131, 133, 137–44, 145
Thacker on 72, 73–6
and the value of marine timekeepers 145–7
Vancouver’s testing of 150
Timor 147
Tompion, Thomas 57
Tories 42
trade 12, 16–19, 17, 28, 144, 186, 188, 221
trading companies 16–17, 19
see also specific companies
travel, long-distance 12, 16–19, 25, 96–101
Trent (ship) 197
triangulation 216
Trueman (sloop) 93
Tupaia 129
Tyburn 158
United States of America 155
Van de Velde, Willem, the Younger 26–7
Van der Puyl, Louis François Gérard, Nevil Maskelyne (1785) 111
Van Keulen, Johannes, The Great and Newly Enlarged Sea Atlas or Waterworld (1682) 24
Vancouver, George 150, 188
‘A Chart showing part of the Coast of N.W. America’ (1798) 149
Vancouver Island 128
Vanikoro reefs, New Caledonia 151
Venice 65
Venus, transit of 98, 128, 129
Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) (Dutch East India Company) 17, 30, 36, 45, 60
Véron, Pierre-Antoine 150–1
Victoria River, Australia 214
Waddington, Robert 98, 99
Wales, William 110, 131, 133, 157
Walker, Ralph 181–4, 181
azimuth compass (c.1793) 181–4, 182
Wallis, Samuel 129
Ward, William 76
warfare 25
watch 39, 57–63, 58–62, 66, 89, 172
affordable 108–9
and Cook’s voyages 133
by John Arnold 116, 119, 121–2, 133, 150
by William Snellen 119, 121
see also specific makers
water power 158
Wauchope, Robert 192–3
weather 17, 19, 28, 30, 31, 42, 82, 216
Webber, John
‘Resolution and Discovery in Ship Cove, Nootka Sound’ (1778) 140–1
‘Sea Otter’ 144
‘Various articles at Nootka Sound’ (1776–80) 128
Werner, Johann 51
West Indies 99, 117, 144, 145
Westall, William, ‘Wreck Reef Bank’ (1803) 151
Weston, Thomas 31
whales 144, 198
Wheldon, John 66
Whigs 39, 42, 122
Whiston, William 39–43, 40, 45, 57–8, 73, 77
A New Method for Discovering Longitude (1714) 39–42
rocket scheme 73, 76
The Longitude Discovered (1738) 41
Whitby 22
Wickham, John Clements 211
Wildman, John R., Commander James Clark Ross (1834) 202
Williams, Zachariah 73
Windward Islands 25
Witchell, George 110
Wollaston, William Hyde 198
Wood, John 28
Worthington, Nathaniel parallel rule 211
sextant 172
Wreck Reef 150
‘Wreck Reef Bank’ (Westall, 1803) 151
Wren, Christopher 53
Wright, Robert, ‘Viaticum Nautarum (The Sailor’s Vade Mecum)’ (1726) 69
Young, Thomas 192, 197
Zacuto, Almanach Perpetuum 25
Zumbach de Koesfelt, Conrad 61, 63
Zumbach de Koesfelt, Lothar 61, 63
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research and writing of this book was made possible as part of a major research project, ‘The Board of Longitude 1714–1828: Science, innovation and empire in the Georgian world’, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and run in collaboration with the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. It would not have been possible without the excellent work and support of our colleagues on that project: Alexi Baker, Katy Barrett, Eóin Phillips, Nicky Reeves, Simon Schaffer and Sophie Waring. The same group, as well as staff at Cambridge University Library, also worked on a related digitization project, ‘Navigating 18th Century Science and Technology: the Board of Longitude’, funded by Jisc. The results of that project have helped shape our understanding of the longitude story.
We have many colleagues to thank at the National Maritime Museum, notably those in the Photographic Studio, Picture Library, Design and Exhibitions, Learning and Interpretation and the Caird Library and Archive. Kara Green and Rebecca Nuotio deserve special thanks for overseeing and steering the process. Many others, within the Museum and elsewhere, have also provided vital information and advice on earlier drafts. We particularly wish to thank Megan Barford, David Barrie, Jonathan Betts, Robert Blyth, Héloïse Finch-Boyer, Caitlin Homes, Gillian Hutchinson, Wolfgang Köberer, Albert Krayer, John McAleer, Rory McEvoy, Alison Morrison-Low, Jacob Orrje, Juan Pimentel, James Poskett and Pieter van der Merwe. We would also like to thank all those who talked to the project team and gave insights that furthered our thinking, notably Jim Bennett, David Bryden, Andrew Cook, Felicity Henderson, Andrew King, Anita McConnell and Maia Nuku. Lastly, we would like to thank the editorial and design staff at HarperCollins for working with us on this publication.
The exhibition that this book accompanies was made possible by the provision of insurance through the Government Indemnity Scheme. The National Maritime Museum would like to thank HM Government for providing Government Indemnity and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for arranging the indemnity.
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Two English ships wrecked in a storm on a rocky coast, by William van de Velde the Younger, c. 1700, BHC0907 © National Maritime Museum
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