NOVA
Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude
TV-PG
S26 • E1 Oct 6, 1998 55mIn 1714, following a maritime disaster, British Parliament offers £20,000 for the first reliable method of determining longitude on a ship at sea. It's known that longitude can be found by comparing a ship's local time to the time at the port of origin. The challenge is finding a clock—a chronometer—that can keep time at sea, where temperature changes, humidity, gravity and a ship's movement affect accuracy.
NOVA chronicles the seventeenth-century journey to determine longitude.
NOVA chronicles the seventeenth-century journey to determine longitude.