Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1912-01-06
OLD SHIP CLOCKS.
Crude Devices Mariners Used In
Reckoning Time.
sANDGLASS MOST POPULAR.

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now matter OF the utmost simplicity.
But such was not the case In the old
sailing days. and In order TO acquire
even the vaguest idea of longitude and
time the seaman had recourse TO curl
Gus devices.
Crude a. these devices appear com.
pared with present day instruments.
they save the mariner from chaos and
destruction. and even II he could not
name the hour with any degree Of GER
tainty he at least knew the day OF the
week.
Eclipses Of the moon and the posi-.
tons OF the stars afforded little guide
to the skipper. who was. nevertheless.
greatly handicapped by his lack of as
Economical knowledge and the inferior
quality Of his spygass Moreover,
eclipscs could not lac arranged for ev-
cry night In the week. and there were
dark nights when the stars could not
be seen. so various devices had TO be
pressed into service.
The most popular form of old sea
clock was the sandglass Many OF
these glasses were timed to run TWEEN
| ty-four hours. and prior to the ship
/ leaving land the glass was set exactly
at noon. II It were carefully watched
and turned as soon ms the sand ran
down the skipper could reckon the
days with fair accuracy.
Side by side with the large glass were
placed half hour and minute glasses.
The man at the helm carefully watch
cd this old sea clock and announced
the time ut regular intervals by strik-
ing bell. II was customary to esti-
mate the duration of any incident by
so many glasses. ITO tlog the glass
was an operation very congenia to
lazy seamen. IL consisted In turning
the glass before all the sand had run
down so that the watch was appre-
ciably shortened
When the twenty-four hour glass
was employed little Juggling was in.
dulged In for the purpose of finding
the longitude The difference between
| the twenty four hour glass and the
time by the sun was estimated and
| this difference was held to represent
the longitude east or west. according
as the suns time might be before or
after the time returned by the glass
Taking the sun was weird and
wonderful operation Clumsy quad
rants were utilized. and toward mid
day the captain appeared on deck to
perform his solemn duty After much
| screwing OF eyes and waggllng OF the
! quadrant the captain would bawl out
| TO the mate. Make II - bellsr' the
number varying according to personal
idiosyncrnsies
A demand for more satisfactory
device for estimating time at sea was
responsible for experiments being
made with pendulum clocks. though
with little success The interest OF
inventors was aroused when the Eng
fish government in iTli offered el0,-
600 to any one invcnting method OF
reckoning longitude 10 within de-
gree, or sixty miles: fi5.000 II within
forty miles and 100000 II within thirty
miles
John Harrison. an obscure Yorkshire
carpenter. who had achieved a local
reputation by repairing and cleaning
clocks. cane forward with n chronom.
eter which ut once attracted attention.
| Through the influence of DR.. HALEY he
was enabled to make voyage In a
government vessel TO Lisbon. where he
succeeded In determining the longitude
TO within | degree 30 minutes.
For this achievement he was grant
ed $500 TO enable him TO proceed with
his invention After thirty years hard
toll he produced chronometer on
which the present marine chronomcter
Is based His invention was shaped
like large watch. and in 1861 Har
rison's son embarked for Jamaica In
order TO carry out tests On the voy
age out the chronometcr was only 81
seconds in error. and during the whole
trip from Portsmouth TO Jamaica aud
back the variation was only minute
5i.5 seconds
The accuracy OF the chronometer
thus enabled the longitude TO be deter
mined within eighteen miles. a result
which exceeded the admiralty's most
sangiine expectations After further
demonstrations an act of parliament
WAS passed In 1865 awarding Harrison
f20O0O. half OF the money TO be paid
rs soon MS he explained how his time
Keeper was constructed and the re.
maindcr when the government WAS
convinced that these timekeepers could
be- made by others Despite the full.
flllment OF these conditions Harrison
had 20 wait several years before the
money was paid over
Larcum Kendall. who had been liar.
rIson's apprentice and who was ulti-
maicly his successor. followed on the
lines laid down by his master and pro.
duced thermometer which was used
by Captain Cook during his daring
voyage In the Resolution OF this
chroNsmetcr Cook wrote. our longi.
fude can never be erroneous while we
I.uIatso