Ships, Clocks, and Stars: The Quest for Longitude
By Richard Dunn and Rebekah Higgitt
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
A tale of eighteenth-century invention and competition, commerce and conflict, this is a lively, illustrated, and accurate chronicle of the search to solve “the longitude problem,” the question of how to determine a ship’s position at sea—and one that changed the history of mankind.
Ships, Clocks, and Stars brings into focus one of our greatest scientific stories: the search to accurately measure a ship’s position at sea. The incredible, illustrated volume reveals why longitude mattered to seafaring nations, illuminates the various solutions that were proposed and tested, and explores the invention that revolutionized human history and the man behind it, John Harrison. Here, too, are the voyages of Captain Cook that put these revolutionary navigational methods to the test.
Filled with astronomers, inventors, politicians, seamen, and satirists, Ships, Clocks, and Stars explores the scientific, political, and commercial battles of the age, as well as the sailors, ships, and voyages that made it legend—from Matthew Flinders and George Vancouver to the voyages of the Bounty and the Beagle.
Featuring more than 150 photographs specially commissioned from Britain’s National Maritime Museum, this evocative, detailed, and thoroughly fascinating history brings this age of exploration and enlightenment vividly to life.
Richard Dunn
Trained as a historian of science, Richard Dunn has published widely on subjects including astrology, navigation, scientific instruments and museums. He is currently affiliated with the Science Museum, London, UK, having previously worked as a Curator of the History of Navigation at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Read more from Richard Dunn
Ships, Clocks, and Stars: The Quest for Longitude Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Ships, Clocks, and Stars
Related ebooks
Navigational Instruments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Latitude: The True Story of the World's First Scientific Expedition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLongitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ancient and Modern Ships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Navigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/530,000 Leagues Undersea: True Tales of a Submariner and Deep Submergence Pilot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5St. Augustine Pirates and Privateers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSailing Acts: Following An Ancient Voyage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5North Pole, South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth's Magnetism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5John Houbolt: The Unsung Hero of the Apollo Moon Landings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dam Buster Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeing in the Dark: How Amateur Astronomers Are Discovering the Wonder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storm Below Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sailing Adventures in Paradise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gibraltar: The History of a Fortress Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Endeavour: The Ship That Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Demise of the Largest Sailing Ships: Stories of the Six and Seven-Masted Coal Schooners of New England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of the Telescope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle For The Solomons [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surf, Sand, and Stone: How Waves, Earthquakes, and Other Forces Shape the Southern California Coast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trafalgar Chronicle: New Series 4: Dedicated to Naval History in the Nelson Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIce Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
History For You
The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Ships, Clocks, and Stars
0 ratings0 reviews