Part 2

On the Success of this Trial being known, and after having employed near forty Years of my Life on the Faith of an Act of Parliament, was a Doctrine broached to me (as I solemnly declare for the first Time) that the Commissioners were invested with a discretionary Power of ordering other Trials and the fulfilling of other Conditions than those specially annexed by Act of Parliament to the Reward; An Exposition of the Law, which I ever did and ever shall (until it is supported by legal Authority) totally reject and refuse Obedience to; for I do maintain, that before passing the last Act of Parliament I had as full and perfect a Right to the Reward of 20,000l. as any Free-holder in Britain has to his Estate; and I never would have desired nor ever will desire any better Satisfaction than a judicial Determination of that Point; which however it was very soon thought proper to preclude me from, by a new Law, passed at the Instance of the Commissioners of Longitude, placing me too certainly under the Discretion of the Commissioners and totally changing the Terms on which the Reward was to be given me, enacting that I should have half of it when I had disclosed the Principles and Construction of the Machine, and assigned over for the Use of the Publick the last made Timekeeper, together with the three others which were not so perfect as the last; and the other half when I should have made more Watches, without determining how many, and proved them to the Satisfaction of the Commissioners, without defining the Mode of Trial.

I frankly confess that from thenceforward I considered the second Moiety of the Reward as lost for ever. The first Moiety I obtained, tho' it was with great Difficulty, as the Act required me to explain my Invention upon Oath, and the Commissioners were pleased to put into that Oath, Words of an indeterminate and unlimited Meaning, and refused to explain them, or even permit me or my Son to ask what was meant by them. We at length agreed to take it (finding we should never get any Thing if we did not, such was now the Power of the Commissioners) and they declared that themselves and the Gentlemen appointed by them to whom we were to explain it, would be upon Honour not to disclose it, that I might have an Opportunity of obtaining the Reward promised by foreign Powers; however, in less than a Month an Account of it appeared in the public News-Papers, signed by the Rev. Mr. Ludlam, one of the six Gentlemen named by the Commissioners to receive the Discovery, and therefore, I make no doubt, by Leave of the Board. Nor did they stop here, for they have since published all my Drawings without giving me the last Moiety of the Reward, or even paying me and my Son for our Time at the Rate of common Mechanicks; a Discouragement to the Improvement of Arts and Sciences, and an Instance of such Cruelty and Injustice as I believe never existed in a learned and civilized Nation before.

I have already had Occasion to mention, that at the Time I receiv'd the Certificate for the first Moiety of the Reward, the Watch was delivered up; it remained six Months locked up at the Admiralty, and was then removed to Greenwich, to be the Subject of those Experiments concerning which I now trouble the Public. The other three Machines, were (by Order of the Commissioners) soon after demanded of me by Mr. Maskelyne. One of them which had been going more than thirty Years, was broke to Pieces under his careful and ingenious management, before it got out of my House; and the other two were so far abused in the Carriage by Land to Greenwich, as to be rendered quite incorrect, and as far as I can learn, incapable of being repaired without having some essential Parts made anew: Thus perished the first Essays of this long-wished for Invention!

Unwilling however that the Public should lose the Benefit of the Discovery, or the Chance of further Improvement, I applied, by repeated Letters, to the Board, praying that the Watch might be lent to me (offering Security for it if required) for the Sake of employing other Workmen to make the different Parts by Model, with quicker Dispatch, and in Order to determine by Experiments, whether some expensive Parts of the Machinery might not be abridged or totally left out. Still have my Requests been refused, and of late they have alledged that they cannot keep their Engagements with Mr. Kendall if they were to lend me the Watch. What those Engagements are may be seen below. The new Act, as I have already observ'd, did not determine how many more Watches were to be made before I should receive the other Moiety of the Reward: it was seven Months before I could get them to fix how many, and then they would neither agree to any Mode of Trial proposed by me, nor propose any themselves till eleven Months after that, viz. not till the 11th Day of April last, when (an Enquiry having been set on Foot in the House of Commons) they were pleased to propose, that instead of the Length of a West-India Voyage, which is about six Weeks, the Watches should be placed with their very good Friend and Well-wisher Mr. Maskelyne for ten months, and then be sent for two months on board a Ship in the Downs; and all this I am required to submit to, without the least Shadow of Assurance on their Part, that they will be satisfied with this Trial, let it answer ever so well, or that I shall thereby be brought at all the nearer receiving what is due to me, altho' (independent of making the Watches) it must necessarily employ one whole Year of mine or my Son's Time, in superintending an Examination, which, after all, can only prove that I, who have made one Machine, can make another like it; and the Point of general Practicability, about which so much stir is affected to be made, would not be one Jot advanced beyond what it is at present.

I cannot help begging the Reader will here allow me to add a Remark or two upon the general Practicability of my Invention, as that is now said to be the only Thing that was in Dispute between the Commissioners and me, and that they only wanted to be satisfied as to this Point. In order to clear it up then, I will submit to the Public to determine whether the general Use and Practicability of my Invention can, in the Nature of Things, be attacked, unless under one of these three following Heads:

1. That a Time-keeper, however perfect, is an insufficient Means of ascertaining the Longitude at Sea.

2. That such Information has not been given as will enable other Workmen to make other Time-keepers of equal goodness with that which is certified to have kept the Longitude.

Or 3. That they will come to so enormous a Price as to be out of the Reach of Purchase.

From the Benefit of the first Objection (even if it was founded in Truth, which I utterly deny) the Commissioners have surely precluded both themselves and the Nation, as with Respect to me, by their repeated Orders and Instructions, and after leading me on for near Half a Century, to employ my whole Time and make long Voyages for perfecting the Invention, they can never be permitted now to come and say the Invention itself is good for nothing. Should any one however continue to propagate such an Opinion, I beg leave, in Contradiction to it, to offer that of Sir Isaac Newton, and that of Martin Folkes, Dr. Halley, Dr. Smith, Mr. Graham, and eight other Persons of great Eminence, both publicly given to the House of Commons and to be found in the Journals, viz. Sir Isaac's in Vol. 17, Page 677, and the others in Vol. 29, Page 547.

The second Objection is flatly contradicted by Evidence lately before the House of Commons, by which it appears that the Description and original Drawings from which the Watch was made, as given in by me upon Oath, are printed and published; and that Mr. Mudge (the only one of the Watchmakers to whom the Discovery was made, who has been examined by the House of Commons) declar'd he could make these Watches as well as I can. Moreover I am ready, on Condition of receiving the Remainder of what's due to me, upon Oath to give all manner of future Information and Instruction in my Power; and I hope it could never enter into any Man's Idea of general Practicability, that I should actually teach every indifferent Workman in the Nation, and furnish each of them with a Set of Tools for the Trial of his Ability, at my own Expence, before I could be entitled to the Reward.

With Regard to the third Objection, no Estimate of the future Expence can (from the Nature of the Subject) be grounded upon any Authority better than that of Opinion. The Price of common Watches, where each Part is made by a different Workman, bears no Proportion to what must necessarily be charged by any Man who was to make the whole with his own Hands: the same Reduction will naturally take place when a Number of Workmen are instructed to make the different Parts of these. My Opinion is, that they might in a very few Years be afforded for about L.100 a-piece, and if a Reduction of the Machinery can be effected (which I am strongly inclined to think is the Case, but have not had an Opportunity of proving by Experiment for want of my Models) the Expence may be reduced to about 70 or 80 l.

By this Time I think the Reader may naturally exclaim, How can all these Things be? What can induce a Number of Noblemen, Statesmen and Officers of the first Rank and most unblemished Characters; what can induce the President of the Royal Society, and the Professors of the Universities (to each of whom his Majesty has been most graciously pleased to order Payment of 15 l. per Day for every Board of Longitude they attend) and what can induce the Astronomer Royal, thus to discourage an Invention which they are specially constituted to improve, protect, and support? I might answer with Mr. Maskelyne, "that's none of my Business to account for."--The Facts are so, and this public Relation of them is extorted from me, by a Conviction that no other Way is left me to obtain Justice, or so likely to prevent the Invention from perishing. However, if it is expected of me, like Mr. Maskelyne, to deliver an Opinion on this Point, I shall declare what I believe very sincerely, that by far the greater Part of the Commissioners are perfectly innocent of the Treatment I have met with: most of them are Commissioners by Virtue of great Employments which engage their Time and Attention: A Board so constituted is continually changing; and this being a Matter of Science which to many may seem rather abstruse, it was very naturally left to the Management of a few of those Members who stand in the most immediate Relation to Science, and whose Opinions, upon a Business of this Nature, the rest of the Board had too much Modesty to call in Question. How well they have merited that Degree of Confidence is left to the impartial World to determine.

To return again to Mr. Maskelyne's Account: He, as I think has been already shewn, having said and done every Thing in his Power to the Dishonour and Discouragement of my Invention, scruples not to sum up his Opinion of it in the following Terms:

"That Mr. Harrison's Watch cannot be depended upon to keep the Longitude within a Degree, in a West-India Voyage of six Weeks, nor to keep the Longitude within Half a Degree for more than a Fortnight, and then it must be kept in a Place where the Thermometer is always some Degrees above freezing: that, in case the Cold amounts to freezing, the Watch cannot be depended upon to keep the Longitude within Half a Degree for more than a few Days, and perhaps not so long, if the Cold be very intense: nevertheless, that it is a useful and valuable Invention, and in Conjunction with the Observations of the Distance of the Moon from the Sun and fixed Stars, may be of considerable Advantage to Navigation."

Having sufficiently refuted the first Part of this Opinion already, it only remains for me to make such Remarks on the Lunar Method of finding the Longitude, as this coupling of my Invention with it seems to call upon me for.

It is with Reluctance that I follow Mr. Maskelyne into a Subject in which I may seem, like him, to be actuated by a selfish Preference to my own Scheme; however, as I shall give my Reasons for what I advance, I will not hesitate to submit them to the Public. I beg to be understood as a warm and declared Friend to that and every other Mode which can be devised of ascertaining the Longitude at Sea, so long as they keep within the Bounds of Reason and Probability. Here are now two Methods before the Public; Wou'd to God there were two Hundred! The Importance of the Object would warrant public Encouragement to them all; but, called upon to say something on the Subject, I think it incumbent upon me to point out those Limits beyond which its Utility cannot, from the Nature of the Thing, be extended.

The Method of finding the Longitude by the Moon, in which Mr. Maskelyne is in a pecuniary way interested, is this.--If the apparent Distance between the Sun and Moon, or between the Moon and some fix'd Star, at any certain Part of the Globe, was for every Hour of the Year known; and if a Navigator, when at Sea, could also, by Observations, ascertain what is the apparent Distance, at the Place where he is, between the Sun and Moon, or between the Moon and a Star, and likewise their respective Altitudes; and if he could also, at the same Moment, ascertain the Time of the Day, either by an immediate Observation of the Sun, or by a Watch which would keep Time pretty exactly from the last solar Observation; these Matters of Fact being given, the Difference of Longitude may from thence be calculated. I admit the Principle to be absolutely true in Theory. The Lunar Tables, for which the Rewards have been given, are calculated to shew the Distance between the Sun and Moon, or Moon and Stars, at Greenwich; I admit the Practicability of making such Tables; but with Regard to the other Requisites, I beg Leave to observe that, for six Days in every Month, the Moon is too near the Sun for observing, consequently, during those Days, the Method falls totally to the Ground; that for about other thirteen Days in every Month, the Sun and Moon are at too great a Distance for observing them at the same Time, or are not at the same Time visible; therefore, during those 13 Days, we must depend upon Observations of the Moon and Stars, and upon a Watch to keep Time, from the last Solar Observation with sufficient Exactness, which common Watches cannot be depended upon to do; well therefore might Mr. Maskelyne admit that my Invention would become of considerable Value, even if taken in Aid of the Lunar Tables. I leave the Reader to judge of the Practicability of making these Observations from what follows:

To ascertain the Longitude by the Moon and a Star, requires a distinct Horizon to be seen in the Night, which is next to impossible, and if you have not an Horizon, the Altitude of neither Moon nor Star can be taken: It also requires (and this perhaps when a Ship is in a high Sea) the Distance of the Moon and Star, in order to come at which, the Image of one of them must be reflected through a silvered Glass, and the other seen through an unsilvered Part of the same Glass; and they must be brought into Conjunction in the Line that connects the silvered and unsilvered Parts, and this to an Exactness only true in Theory, for an Error of a Minute of a Degree committed in this Observation, will mislead the Mariner Half a Degree in his Longitude; Now I call upon any Astronomers of Reputation publickly to declare, that they have, even at Land, and with the best Instruments Europe affords, been able to make this Observation of the Moon and a Star with any thing like the Precision required to determine the Longitude within the Limits required by the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne; I know it cannot be done. Nay I further call upon any such Astronomers to declare, whether even in Observations of the Distance between the Sun and Moon, two of them observing together have generally speaking agreed in this Observation within a Minute of a Degree: I know that in general the Difference between the best Observers even at Land will be more, and as a farther Proof of this Assertion, I refer the Reader to the Note below: And if these Matters of Fact are still doubted, I shall beg Leave to call upon Mr. Maskelyne and Mr. Green to declare how near they, with Admiral Tyrrel agreed in determining the Longitude by the Sun and Moon in their Voyage to Barbadoes; and also whether during that Voyage they ever did determine their Longitude by the Moon and Stars.--I know they did not, for they found the Observation too difficult, and indeed it is only true in Theory.

From the foregoing Premises I infer,

1st. That during six Days in every Month, no Observations can be made by this Method to ascertain the Longitude at Sea.

2dly, That during 13 other Days in each Month, it is impracticable to ascertain it by this Method with any Instruments hitherto contrived, or which the Nature of the Service to be performed seems to admit of

And 3dly, That during the remaining 11 Days in each Month, when the Sun and Moon may, if the Weather is clear be observed at the same Time, no Reliance can safely be placed upon the best Instruments in the Hand of the best Observer for ascertaining the Longitude within the Limits of the Act of Queen Anne; and consequently, that how valuable soever the Lunar Tables may be for correcting a long dead Reckoning, and thereby telling us whereabouts we are, when we are not afraid of falling in with the Land, yet even during these 11 Days, they do not extend to the Security of Ships near the Shore.

This Method of ascertaining the Longitude by the Moon has already cost the Publick the Sum of 6,600l. at least, and yet no proper Experiment has been made of it.

I shall not presume to make any Reflections on the different Treatment the two Inventions have met with, nor will I take up more of the Reader's Time by a Detail of the very earnest Attention paid by the French Government to this Object. If our Rivals in Commerce and Arts should rob us of the Honour as well as the first Advantages of the Discovery, I hope it will be admitted that the Fault is not mine: And I likewise flatter myself that I have now furnished sufficient Materials for the Justification of my Friends, and for shewing that the Cause which they from publick spirited Motives had the Goodness to espouse, was not unworthy of their Patronage.

Red-Lion-Square, June 23, 1767 JOHN HARRISON.

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

August 22, 1765.