The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1912-04-12
OLD SHIP CLOCKS.
Crude Devices Mariners Used In
Reckoning Time.
sANDcLAss MOST POPULAR.

First Chronomstsrs.
To ascertain the time when at sea Is
now q 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 curi.
Gus devices.
Crude az 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 be at least knew the day Of the
week.
Eclipses Of the moon and the posi-
lions Of the stars afforded a little guide
to the skipper, who was, nevertheless,
greatly handicapped by his lack Of as.
Economical knowledge and the inferior
quality of his spyglass. Moreover.
eclipses could not be arranged for ev.
cry night in the week. and there were
dark nights when the stars could not
be seen. 40 various devices had to be
pressed into service.
The o popular form Of old sea
clock was the sandglass. Many of
these glasses were timed to run twen-
ty-four hours. and prior to the shin
leaving land the glass was set exactly
at noon. II It were carefully watched
and turned as soc as the sane 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
ed this old sea clock and announced
the time at regular intervals by strik-
ing a bell. 1t was customary to esti.
mate the duration of any incident by
so many glasses. ITO fog the glass"
was an operation very congenial to
lazy seamen. 1t 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 a little juggling was in.
dulged In for the purpose of finding
the longitude The difference between
the twenty four hour glass and the
~ cou was cSlluldIeu anu
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.
TAXING the sun" was a weird and
wonderful operation. Clumsy quad
rants were utilized. and toward mid
day he captain appeared on deck to
perform his solemn duty. After much
screwinR Of eyes and waggiing Of the
quadrant the captain would bawl out
to the mate. Make It. bells!" the
number varying according to personal
idiosyncrasiea.
A demand for a 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
lfsh government in TIA offered f1O..
COO to any one %inventing d method Of
reckoning longitude to within q de-
or sixty miles: Els 600 If within
forty miles and 10000 If within thirty
miles.
John Harrison. an obscure Yorkshire
who had achieved q local
reputation by repairing and cleaning
clocks. came forward with a chronom.
which at once attracted attention.
Through the influence Of DR.. HALEY be
was enabled to make a voyage In a
vessel to Lisbon, where he
succeeded In determining the longitude
to within I degree 80 minutes.
For this achievement he was grant
ed f5OO to enable him to proceed with
bis invention, After thirty years hard
toll he produced a thermometer on
which the present marine thermometer
is based. His invention was shaped
like a large watch. and in 1851 Har.
rtsOn'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 ans
back the variation was only l minut.
AS seconds.
The accuracy of the thermometer
thus enabled the longitude to be deter.
mined within eighteen miles. a result
which exceeded the admiralty's mosn
sanguine expectations, After further
demonstrations an act of parliament
was passed In 1765 awarding Harrison
10000. half of the money to be pait
as soon as he explained how his time
Keeper was constructed and the re-
mainder when the government was
convinced that these timekeepers could
be made nv Ofhoro noSp3to Tho <,I