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# Nobody on this ship knows where this ship is
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/02800/
- Published: 2026-10-03T14:05:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T15:12:16.000Z
- Description: Filed: 1567 · Solved: the 1760s in England · the marine chronometer · by John Harrison, clockmaker
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Solved, #solved 1760s

*The captain says we're two days from land. He said that last week.* — Deckhand, 1741

In 1707 four British warships got their position wrong and ran onto the rocks off England. More than 1,300 men died. Parliament offered a fortune to anybody who could work out longitude at sea. The answer came from a carpenter named John Harrison, whose first clocks were made of wood. On a two-month trip to Jamaica, his watch lost five seconds. The prize board called it a fluke. He had to go to the king before Parliament paid him most of what he was owed, in 1773\. A man can build a perfect clock and still wait on a committee.

**Noted**: the phone in your pocket now knows where you are to within about 16 feet.