Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
"For hundreds of years ships had been sailing to places far and near without really knowing where they were!"
Sailors knew how to measure latitude, their location north or south of the equator, but they could not measure longitude, their location east or west of their home port. Because of this, many lives were lost worldwide. The key to solving this problem lay in devising a clock that could keep absolutely accurate time while at sea, unaltered by rough water or weather conditions. With such a timekeeper sailors would be able to know the time back at their home port and calculate the longitude. But no one knew how to design such a clock.
John Harrison (1693-1776), an Englishman without any scientific training, worked tirelessly for more than forty years to create a perfect clock. The solution to this problem was so important that an award of 20,000 pounds sterling (equal to several million dollars today) was established by the English Parliament in 1714. Harrison won recognition for his work in 1773.
Together with beautifully detailed pictures by Erik Blegvad, Louise Borden's text takes the reader through the drama, disappointments, and successes that filled Harrison's quest to invent the perfect sea clock.
Sailors knew how to measure latitude, their location north or south of the equator, but they could not measure longitude, their location east or west of their home port. Because of this, many lives were lost worldwide. The key to solving this problem lay in devising a clock that could keep absolutely accurate time while at sea, unaltered by rough water or weather conditions. With such a timekeeper sailors would be able to know the time back at their home port and calculate the longitude. But no one knew how to design such a clock.
John Harrison (1693-1776), an Englishman without any scientific training, worked tirelessly for more than forty years to create a perfect clock. The solution to this problem was so important that an award of 20,000 pounds sterling (equal to several million dollars today) was established by the English Parliament in 1714. Harrison won recognition for his work in 1773.
Together with beautifully detailed pictures by Erik Blegvad, Louise Borden's text takes the reader through the drama, disappointments, and successes that filled Harrison's quest to invent the perfect sea clock.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0689842163
ISBN13:9780689842160
Release Date:February 2004
Publisher:Margaret K. McElderry Books
Length:48 Pages
Weight:0.99 lbs.
Dimensions:0.4" x 8.3" x 10.4"
Age Range:7 to 10 years
Grade Range:Grades 2 to 5
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
A Fine Children's Book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
SEA CLOCKS tells the story of John Harrison, the English craftsman who solved the problem of how to determine longitude. Until he came along, latitude (distance north or south) was pretty easy to determine but longitude (distance east and west) was nothing more than a guess. The idea was understood but there was no practical way to make the determination. It depended upon the accurate determination of time which was beyond the mechanical devices of the day, especially at sea. Harrison came from a humble background and trained himself. He managed to make important friends and connections. He also had many who were jealous of him and held him down. He spent his life solving the problem of longitude only to find that many snobs wanted to wait for a solution until it could be provided by somebody of the right social class. This is not an exciting read but it is in informative one that might well appeal to young people. It presents just enough of the technicalities to make the problem understandable but does not go off into detail. Mostly, it is just a story of perseverance and honor. It's a good example.
An engaging picture book about solving a real world problem
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
Louise Borden's Sea Clocks: The Story Of Longitude is a picture book rendition of a troubling problem for sailors in the 1700's and before - although they could measure their latitude, they could not calculate their longitude, and therefore did not know exactly where they were on the waves. Many lives were lost at sea because of this. The solution to the problem would be to devise a clock that would keep accurate time at sea, regardless of water or weather conditions. Many struggled to create such a timekeeper; Sea Clocks follows the work of mechanical genius John Harrison (1693-1776), who labored tirelessly to make a viable sea clock a reality. Black-and-white and some sketchy color illustrations by Erik Blegvad nicely illuminate this engaging picture book about solving a real world problem.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
