With the increase in exploration, colonization, and trade during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that was stimulated by the discoveries of the wealth of the New World, the problems of ocean navigation and in particular finding longitude at sea became of growing concern to the major seafaring nations of Europe. For more than two centuries, many ingenious, but unsuccessful, attempts were made, but not even the most celebrated scientists were able to solve the problem of finding longitude at sea. In the end, the solution came from an unexpected source: a clockmaker. His name was John Harrison. This article describes John Harrison's life and the making of his remarkable timekeepers in the context of the fascinating history of finding longitude at sea.
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