Nobody on this ship knows where this ship is

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.