John Harrison and Navigation

When we began to discuss the age of discovery it made me remember a character who I always thought was interesting and thats the 18th century clockmaker, John Harrison. Merely a carpenter with knowledge of clockwork mechanisms, Harrison developed clocks that were accurate enough to determine longitudinal location using a sextant. This technique required having a clock that would stay on London time for the entirety of a sea journey so that by comparing the star charts and figuring out local time, one could determine where they were longitudinally. Harrison's advances in clockmaking were prompted by the longitude prize which was established by the royal society of London. Harrison encountered many struggles and eventually developed four separate clocks whose designs were far beyond their time.