@trumi: Life is too short, remember?
For a wonderful book about the nautical clock and the accurate determination of Longitude, read: : The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.
by Dava Sobel
“The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John “Longitude” Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.”
From Publishers Weekly
“This look at the scientific quest to find a way for ships at sea to determine their longitude was a PW bestseller for eight weeks.”