DOI 10.6094/helden.heroes.heros./2014/02/09
Ulrike Zimmermann 119
John Harrison (1693-1776) and the Heroics of Longitude
1. A Symposium and a Rediscovery bestseller, and Dava Sobel embarked on a car eer as a well-known and respected author of 2 When American journalist Dava Sobel attended popular science books. the Longitude Symposium of Harvard Univer Dava Sobel’s first subject already was his sity at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in November tory, albeit part of an unaccountably hidden or 1993, she did not expect anything decisive to at least underrated history. John Harrison was a come out of either the conference or her attend carpenter and self-taught clockmaker, who was ance. “500 people from seventeen countries” born in Yorkshire and spent his early life in Bar came together to hold “a conference about the row-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire. He would history of finding longitude at sea,” W. H.An probably have spent his life in obscurity had he drewes, curator of the scientific instruments col not solved one of the major technological prob lection at Harvard, notes in his introduction to lems of his time, the problem of how to determine the conference proceedings (Andrewes, Intro a ship’s east-west position, its longitude, at sea. duction 1). Despite the sizable number of par Harrison has a firm place in the history of navi ticipants, the Longitude Symposium was at first gation, and would have been known amongst sight a convention of specialists sharing their horologists, clock and watch makers, and naval knowledge and discussing finer points of their historians. The general public, however, be academic work, not a convention to arouse great came acquainted with John Harrison and his public interest. This particular symposium, how major achievements through the publication of ever, triggered a series of cultural products and Sobel’s Longitude. In its wake came more cul events which disseminated specialist knowledge tural products dealing with John Harrison’s life to many people who had not necessarily been and work: Longitude was adapted as a TV mini interested in the history of longitude before. Out series and broadcast in 2000. The National Mari of the whole process emerged a new tale of her time Museum in London produced a documen oism with an unlikely protagonist who is anything tary on Harrison and his timekeepers [which are but conventionally heroic, and who had been housed in the Royal Observatory] in 2001 and is dead for more than 200 years at the time of the commemorating the tercentenary of the estab Longitude Symposium: John Harrison [1693- lishment of the Board of Longitude with a series 1776], the inventor of the first reliable marine of exhibitions: Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest timekeeper. for Longitude [July 2014-January 2015] and Dava Sobel had been asked to write an art Longitude Punk’d [April 2014-January 2015]. In icle on the Longitude Symposium for the Harvard 2006, John Harrison received a public memor Magazine. Although it became the cover story, it ial in Westminster Abbey, which was unveiled by did not receive much attention from its readers.1 Prince Philip. As it turns out, Harrison is enjoy But then Sobel was approached by the owner ing a stellar career centuries after his death: He of a publishing house, George Gibson of Walker developed from a specialist with an excellent Books, who suggested she should turn her sub reputation and a place in the history of science, ject into a full-length book – which she duly did. whose contribution to modern-day navigation The rest is, as the saying goes, history: Sobel’s was spectacular, but who was known only to a first book Longitude: The True Story of a Lone scientific community, to a public, even popular th Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Prob character in the late 20 century. In the BBC pro lem of His Time came out in 1995 to become a gramme 100 Greatest Britons of 2002, Harrison came out 39th (cf. The Top 100 Great Britons).
helden. heroes. héros. Ulrike Zimmermann
120 This case study will attempt to shed light on how solving the longitude problem, he made inven an unassuming eighteenth-century craftsman tions which had a lasting impact on clockmaking: has in the recent past become the central fig the gridiron pendulum, welded together out of ure of a story of heroism, which unfolded across different metals in order to compensate for tem a variety of media. It will be suggested that the perature changes; the bi-metallic strip, used in attribution of heroic characteristics made John clocks to similar effect, and the grasshopper es Harrison more easily accessible and also more capement, an escapement with very low friction. attractive to a wider audience. His heroic feat was This list points to the fact that Harrison’s work finding the solution to a highly specific problem has specialist appeal at best, but not necessar of technology, which turned out to revolutionise ily heroic qualities. Despite his good results and navigation and largely contributed to the creation enormous skills, it took Harrison four decades to of the naval power Britain has been for centuries. convince the scientific community of the quality John Harrison’s life and work are not necessarily and reliability of his clocks.3 the stuff heroes are made of, but on closer scru In 1714, the British Parliament had, by pass tiny contain elements which have the potential ing the so-called Longitude Act, established for a remarkable narrative. The historical facts a Board of Longitude. A prize of £20,000 was known about him speak of an interesting person offered to anybody who would invent a practic ality. Arguably, giving John Harrison an elevated, able method of establishing longitude aboard potentially heroic status has elements of narra ship. The hopeless inaccuracy of current lon tive emplotment in the sense used by Hayden gitude determination had by this time, with the White. It is suggested that without Dava Sobel’s expansion of the British Empire and the naval initial narrative approach, which earlier accounts requirements of war as well as trade, become of Harrison lacked, his life and achievements the bane of the naval community. In fact, the would not have gained such a strong appeal for Longitude Prize was largely the consequence of so many. As Dava Sobel may not have been the the naval disaster off the Isles of Scilly in 1707, first to discover this potential, but was certainly when an estimated 2000 men drowned as Ad the first to exploit it [in both the positive and the miral Sir Cloudesley Shovell4 and his fleet were negative sense of the word], her book will be the returning from action in the War of the Spanish focus of this analysis, including a close reading Succession. Four ships from Shovell’s fleet ran of some of Sobel’s textual strategies. The John aground on rocks off the Isles of Scilly. Due to Harrison phenomenon crosses a variety of text bad weather and a miscalculation of the position ual and visual media, moving into film and exhib of the fleet, and despite all qualified, state-of-the- itions, which will be taken into account as well. art attempts at reckoning [Shovell had sensed the danger and consulted all of his navigators] the sailors had not realised how close they were to the Isle of Scilly, but thought they were west 2. John Harrison, Clockmaker of the Ile d’Oussant [Brittany], which would have – A Brief Overview meant a safe passage to the harbour of Ports mouth. Losing so many men and ships practical John Harrison’s invention of the marine chro ly at Britain’s doorstep, in one of the worst naval nometer with which it became possible to deter disasters in British history, apparently had polit mine a ship’s longitude while at sea with a de icians finally springing into action. Andrew King gree of certainty, revolutionised navigation. As describes the dimensions of the problem and the the son of a carpenter, Harrison’s initial material solution as follows: of choice was wood, and in fact, his first clocks – hardly conceivable today – were wooden clocks. The immense awards offered under the As there was no community of clockmakers in Act are testimony to the urgency of the Barrow-upon-Humber, it is unknown how Harri problem. […] Under the terms of the Act, son came into contact with this particular craft. in order to obtain the full £20,000 it was re quired that the method, whatever it might He was certainly a well-trained carpenter, but a be, must determine longitude to within a self-taught clockmaker. Initially, John Harrison distance of 30 miles during a voyage from worked on his own. He must have been an ex England to the West Indies. To achieve tremely patient craftsman with touches of the this, a mechanical timekeeper would have DIY tinkerer, who over his lifetime produced, to be accurate to within a total of just two amongst other clocks, different marine chronom minutes during the proposed six-week eters [now specified as H1 to H5], each more trial. Every clockmaker knew that this was advanced than its predecessors. On his way to impossible with the technology then avail able. (King 168)
helden. heroes. héros. John Harrison and the Heroics of Longitude
It is unknown how and when John Harrison trappings: It announces a true story, which has 121 heard about the Longitude Prize. He had started a special appeal and also attracts readers who out by making sophisticated wooden clocks and want solid facts and steer clear of fiction. Harri then turned his creativity and skill towards a reli son is described as a loner, a quality which will be able marine timekeeper, an incredibly ambitious debated later in this case study, and as a genius. project for a man of his background (see King)5. The latter is an impressive attribute, raising him After four decades of struggle and the devel above the average person and stirring curiosity. opment of various types of timekeepers, which This gives the longitude problem a superlative to were road-tested [or rather sea-tested] by the add to the spectacular promises of the title. Board of Longitude, it was only towards the end Sobel’s first chapter is accordingly designed of his long life that John Harrison finally achieved to draw the reader in, as she reminisces about recognition for his work. However, this happened her fascination as a child with a beaded wire only after King George III interceded on Harri ball which reminded her of the lines on a globe son’s behalf, having come to the conclusion that (Sobel, Longitude 2). The chapter proceeds to the clockmaker had been treated unfairly by the inform the reader about the problems of deter Board of Longitude. Members of the Board, above mining latitude and longitude when at sea, with all the Royal Astronomer Sir Nevil Maskelyne, longitude being the far more complex problem, were highly sceptical towards Harrison’s clocks. as it requires a reliable time-keeping method. One of the main problems seems to have been “Any sailor worth his salt can gauge his latitude the question of reproducibility of the timekeep well enough by the length of the day, or by the ers, as the longitude solution was required to be height of the sun or known guide stars above the practical. Behind the hesitation to give Harrison horizon.” (Sobel, Longitude 4) Most of Sobel’s the longitude award one need not necessarily im landlubbing readers, including the writer of this agine personal antagonism on Maskelyne’s part. article, had probably never thought about the However, Maskelyne certainly was no support various degrees of complexity determining lati er of Harrison, as he favoured the competing tude and longitude since their geography lessons method of lunar distance measuring. It is also at school. The idea of educating the readers as striking that the timekeepers put on trial under his well as entertaining them is palpable throughout aegis never seemed to perform satisfactorily.6 In Sobel’s text. This is her concise description of the end, Harrison did get financial remuneration, the problem, worth being quoted in full: but the prize itself was never officially awarded to anybody. These are, in brief, the skeletal facts of The measurement of longitude meridians, Harrison’s life and achievements. in comparison, is tempered by time. To learn one’s longitude at sea, one needs to know what time it is aboard ship and also the time of the home port or another place 3. Dava Sobel’s Longitude of known longitude - at the very same mo ment. The two clock times enable the navi Dava Sobel’s book on the longitude problem and gator to convert the hour difference into a on John Harrison’s solution fleshes out these geographical separation. Since the Earth facts. It is a mixture of popular science and biog takes twenty-four hours to complete one raphy, proceeding chronologically,7 from early full revolution of three hundred sixty de navigation to the mass production of marine grees, one hour marks one twenty-fourth chronometers for the British Navy. The book of a spin, or fifteen degrees. And so each hour’s time difference between the ship is framed by two personal experiences of So and the starting point marks a progress bel: opening with a memory of a toy she owned of fifteen degrees of longitude to the east and closing with her in the Royal Observatory, or west. Every day at sea, when the navi finally face to face with Harrison’s clocks and gator resets his ship’s clock to local noon “reduced […] to tears.” (Sobel, Longitude 174) when the sun reaches its highest point in She cleverly inscribes her own history into the the sky, and then consults the home-port histories of Harrison and the longitude problem, clock, every hour’s discrepancy between adding personal appeal to her book. Sobel offers them translates into another fifteen de digestible and well-written explanations for the grees of longitude. (Sobel, Longitude 4-5) technical problems behind the determination of longitude and also includes navigational history. Imagining the conditions aboard ship [the mo Interestingly, John Harrison does not figure quite tion, the salty humidity, the changes in tem as largely in the book as the spectacular subtitle perature and pressure], it is easily conceivable may lead readers to expect. The True Story of that clocks – a high-tech luxury good at the time a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scien anyway – did not necessarily come to mind as a tific Problem of His Time has all the popular solution to the determination of longitude. There helden. heroes. héros. Ulrike Zimmermann
122 were several competing methods, with the lunar academic thought can sometimes impose distance method8 the most promising of them: on novel ideas. (Andrewes, Introduction 5) It was already being [more or less] successfully employed by navigators and endorsed by Sir What was, according to Sobel, a difficult start Isaac Newton (cf. Andrewes, Even Newton 190- to Harrison’s career, can hence be read as an 191). Newton retained his conviction that astro advantage for him. In the last paragraph of his nomical reckoning, if only improved enough and article, Langley suggests that Harrison’s contri made less prone to error by better astronomical bution to British culture is underrated at the time tables and instruments (cf. Sobel, Longitude 60), of writing, the 1970s. would be the ultimate solution to the longitude problem. That he was proved wrong not by a fel To associate John Harrison with the size low scientist but by John Harrison the carpen and ubiquity of the British Empire, and therefore of our culture and influence, may ter continues to astonish after centuries. Sobel be an extravagant thought; but it would picks up on this in her book: “Newton died in not be difficult to develop such a case and 1727, and therefore did not live to see the great so raise him from his relative obscurity on longitude prize awarded at last, four decades this, the two hundredth anniversary of his later, to the self-educated maker of an oversized death. (Langley 823) pocket-watch.” (Sobel, Longitude 60)9 She is certainly giving her readers a sense of the pro After Langley’s text, it would take almost twenty portions here: John Harrison’s personality is in years more until John Harrison finally achieved deed somewhat anti-climactic in relation to his heroic dimensions at Dava Sobel’s hands. Sobel achievements. is a master of superlatives and striking imagery, In the early eighteenth century, an alterna with which she manages to convey her enthusi tive to the dominant lunar distance method, asm for her subject. Harrison’s difficult path to propounded by a self-taught craftsman from the success reads like the following in Longitude: country, would conceivably be difficult to push to the forefront. This situation is the basis for Harrison, a man of simple birth and high a very unusual story, though not necessarily a intelligence, crossed swords with the lead ing lights of his day. He made a special heroic one. John Harrison is an unlikely hero. enemy of the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, Interestingly, there is one instance before So the fifth astronomer royal, who contest bel in which Harrison is at least named a hero, ed his claim to the coveted prize money, if not necessarily set up as one: In 1976, on the and whose tactics at certain junctures can occasion of the bicentenary of Harrison’s death, only be described as foul play. (Sobel, Michael Langley calls him “the hero of longitude” Longitude 8-9) in History Today. In keeping with the magazine’s general style, stressing information value over This is a sensational, melodramatic narrative entertainment, but still making specialist topics with semantic choices which would be equally accessible to a general, interested public, Lang suitable for a pirate story. It is interesting that So ley’s article is unspectacular in its tone, not ne bel lays open her methods and disingenuously cessarily honouring the promise of its title. How reveals her strategy of heroisation to the reader: ever, Langley does think that John Harrison has “A story that hails a hero must also hiss at a vil not been appreciated enough by posterity. He lain – in this case, the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne sees Harrison’s training as a carpenter rather as […]. In all fairness, Maskelyne is more an anti an advantage, as he would have been aware of hero than a villain, probably more hardheaded the properties of wood and possibly also metal than hardhearted.” (Sobel, Longitude 111) The under various conditions (Langley 821). On a traditional play of protagonist versus antagonist more general level, Andrewes as well argues is at work here, and Sobel does her best to en that Harrison’s position as a self-taught outsider hance it. Despite her disclaimer, she proceeds to of horology might actually have been an advan cast Maskelyne in the role of the villain, provid tage, as he would have been able to approach ing readers with information bound to establish the longitude problem with a fresh and unbiased emotional barriers between themselves and the mind: character of Maskelyne.
Solutions to problems do not always come Maskelyne was born on October 5, 1732. from expected sources, but from unknown This made him about forty years young individuals in remote areas who, being er than John Harrison, although he never imbued with a passion and determination seemed to have been young. […] Family letters refer to his older brothers, William to succeed, can approach the problem and Edmund, as ‘Billy’ and ‘Mun,’ and call without the restricted vision that traditional his younger sister, Margaret, ‘Peggy,’ but
helden. heroes. héros. John Harrison and the Heroics of Longitude
Nevil was always and only Nevil. Unlike 19 years to build, still has the size and shape of 123 John Harrison, who had no formal educa its predecessors – sizable and rather unwieldy tion, Nevil Maskelyne attended Westmin sea clocks – H 4 is an entirely different matter: it ster School and Cambridge University. is a watch.12 This is largely due to the influence of (Sobel, Longitude 112-113) a gifted clockmaker, John Jefferys, a member of Is this hinting at an emotionally cold and nar the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. row-minded personality? Dava Sobel’s choice of 10 In 1753, Jefferys made Harrison a pocket words certainly produces the impression. watch for his personal use. He obvious Harrison’s skill and patience enabled him to ly followed Harrison’s design specifica prevail in the end against all technological and tions, for Jefferys fitted the watch with a human odds. tiny bi-metallic strip to keep it beating true, come heat or cold. […] Some horologists Perfection of the two methods [lunar dis consider the Jefferys timepiece the first true tance and timekeeping] blazed parallel precision watch. (Sobel, Longitude 105) trails of development down the decades from the 1730s to the 1760s. Harrison, ever the loner, pursued his own quiet course This is once again an instance in which Harrison, through a maze of clockwork machinery, although depicted as stubborn and single-mind while his opponents, the professors of as ed, was willing to collaborate if the situation re tronomy and mathematics, promised the quired it and was not hesitant to learn, and to moon to merchants, mariners, and Parlia expand his skills. With Jefferys and his expert ment. (Sobel, Longitude 89) ise, he had struck gold, as Sobel notes. “This watch proved to be remarkably dependable. This is the image of an underdog fighting the Harrison’s descendants recall that it was always academic establishment. In fact, Harrison was in his pocket. It occupied his mind, too, shrink not quite as alone as Sobel represents him here. ing his vision of the sea clock.” (Sobel, Longi He worked initially with his brother, later with tude 105). The results of this thought process is his son, and he gained a formidable mentor in H 4, which looks like a large pocket watch and George Graham [who also gave him a loan to bears no outward resemblance to H 1-3. This is actually build the clock] after he had developed the timekeeper which finally fulfilled the require the design for H1 (see King 182-183, Taylor and ments, performing well on a trip to Jamaica and Wolfendale 57). Graham was one of the lead back in 1762. The moment of suspense in the ing makers of scientific instruments at the time. charting of John Harrison’s path to heroic fame, Sobel herself notes that “[t]he Royal Society […] however, is largely due to the hesitant members rallied behind Harrison all through these trying of the Longitude Board, above all Maskelyne, years. His friend George Graham and other ad who had become Astronomer Royal in 1765. miring members of the society insisted that Har Maskelyne turned out to be, “[…] as Harrison no rison leave his workbench long enough to accept doubt predicted, his nemesis […].” (Sobel, Lon the Copley Gold Medal on November 30, 1749.” gitude 129) The Board demanded Harrison give (Sobel, Longitude 101) John Harrison’s skills up H4 for extensive testing and explain its com never failed to impress those he met, although plete design, and the manufacture of two copies, it is maybe natural that highly qualified crafts and they also requisitioned all the preceding sea men could recognise his achievements more clocks. “Imagine Harrison’s reaction when he easily than scientists.11 The report by Taylor and learned that his treasure, H-4, having languished Wolfendale recounting Harrison’s achievements many months in a lonely tower at the Admiralty, on the occasion of the public memorial in 2006 had been delivered into the hands of his arch claims him for the Royal Society, stressing the enemy.” (Sobel, Longitude 135-136) Maskelyne Society’s role in his appreciation even in the title: was now chiefly responsible for all tests, and it is John Harrison: Clockmaker and Copley Medal part of the appeal of the story of antagonism that ist. A Public Memorial at Last. It can be read as Harrison’s watches never seemed to perform an attempt to write him back into the Society’s well at his hands. Dava Sobel calls her relevant history – now that Harrison has heroic status, chapter Trial by Fire and Water, echoing medi he becomes a contested figure once more, this eval ordeals as well as Mozart’s Magic Flute, thus time in a different way: various communities semantically investing the clocks, their invent make their claims upon the hero and his deeds. or, and their detractor with mystical properties. The ‘lone genius’ was part of professional com Nonetheless, James Cook, having successfully munities and took inspiration from them dur completed his second voyage with sauerkraut ing his lifetime. Apart from his interactions with against scurvy and K-1, a copy of H-4 by Larcum the Royal Society, Harrison profited from fellow Kendall, was satisfied with Harrison’s product. At craftsmen in London. While H 3, which took him 79, with the help of his son, Harrison managed helden. heroes. héros. Ulrike Zimmermann
124 to interest King George III in his matter, and he eminently readable. Although she writes non-fic finally received £8,750. This is the conclusion of tion, she leans towards imbuing her topic with Sobel’s brief biography at the beginning of Longi mythical elements, making Harrison the protag tude: “An aged, exhausted Harrison, taken under onist in epic battles against the elements and his the wing of King George III, ultimately claimed detractors. Longitude has been an overwhelm his rightful monetary reward in 1773 – after forty ing success, probably surprising its author most struggling years of political intrigue, international of all. It was translated into more than twenty warfare, academic backbiting, scientific revolu languages and frequently reprinted, before a 10th tion, and economic upheaval.” (Sobel, Longitude anniversary issue with an introduction by Neil 9-10) Armstrong was published. There is also an illus The satisfaction at John Harrison’s ground trated edition co-authored with W. J. H. Andrew breaking invention being recognised at last is es (cf. Sobel, Official Bio). palpable and conveys itself to the reader. In the long process towards a solution to the longitude problem, there was much suffering, which So bel’s narrative keeps insisting on. The victims of 4. After Sobel’s Longitude: the Isles of Scilly disaster become “two thousand A Harrison Trend martyrs to the cause,” (Sobel, Longitude 16) and of course John Harrison himself “held martyr From then on, the John Harrison phenomenon status among clockmakers” by the time he died snowballed. As early as 1998, a ‘Nova’ episode (Sobel, Longitude 152). Longitude makes use of with the title Lost at Sea: The Search for Longi imagery setting the good against the evil forces, tude was aired in the U.S. It is explicitly based and John Harrison’s patient struggles take on on Sobel’s bestseller, mixing modern-day recre a quasi-religious quality, although instances in ations of historical navigation, statements from which Sobel employs openly religious diction Sobel and nautical experts, and enacted scenes are rare. It speaks to Sobel’s gift as a writer that from Harrison’s life. The programme’s Harrison she introduces her book with a brief life of Harri voices contempt for the academic community he son and still manages to hold readers’ interest in is up against and suggests that the astronomers him and the longitude problem. In the final parts on the Longitude Board, accustomed to stel of Longitude, she traces the way to mass pro lar tables for reckoning, were frightened by his duction of marine timekeepers and their rapid mechanics. spread within the naval community in the dec In a four-part TV mini series, which was ades after Harrison’s death. Almost as an aside, broadcast in the UK and the U.S., Granada Pro she finally states that “[i]ndeed, some modern ductions adapted Sobel’s book in 2000, with horologists claim that Harrison’s work facilitated Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon in starring England’s mastery over the oceans, and there roles. Irons plays Rupert T. Gould, a British by led to the creation of the British Empire – for naval officer who in the 1920s restored Harri it was by dint of the chronometer that Britannia son’s timekeepers and by virtue of this work be ruled the waves.” (Sobel, Longitude 152-153) came one of the most important horologists. He Less nonchalantly, both Langley and Bailey end is briefly mentioned in Sobel’s Longitude, when their essays noting that John Harrison contribu the reader all of a sudden gets the sense that ted significantly to colonial expansion, and An history might be repeating itself. drewes puts the driving forces in a nutshell in his introduction to the Longitude Symposium: “Had Gould, a man of great sensitivity, was power and profit not been found in exploration, so appalled by this pitiful neglect that he colonization, and trade, finding longitude might sought permission to restore all four (the three clocks and the Watch) to working never have been regarded as a serious prob order. He offered to do the work, which lem.” (Andrewes, Introduction 2) Here, the topic took him twelve years, without pay, and is no longer mechanical finesse or astronomy, despite the fact that he had no horological but the question of who rules the world: the na training. (Sobel, Longitude 170-171) tive turf of heroes.13 Sobel’s narrativisation of John Harrison’s life Once again, an unlikely protagonist appears in connection with the longitude problem is the on the scene of naval timekeeping and fights starting point of his achievement of heroic sta against all odds for the mission he has on his tus and popular appeal. Sobel manages to bring mind. While Gould appears to have been a very out the spectacular and unusual about her sub different character from Harrison, they share ject, and she seems to find the right language a sense of commitment and a tenacity which to make his specialist project accessible and marks them both as somewhat out of the ordin understandable. The language of her book is ary.14 When Sobel remarks that “[t]ragic events
helden. heroes. héros. John Harrison and the Heroics of Longitude in Gould’s own life inured him to the difficulty of memory culture. Dava Sobel recounts how she 125 the job he had volunteered for,” (Sobel, Longi was approached by a descendant of Harrison tude 171) the potential for drama once again about supporting a petition to commemorate becomes apparent. The TV programme partly Harrison in Westminster Abbey after the publi capitalises on this, but does not become quite cation of her book in Britain (Sobel, Longitude, as melodramatic as may have been expected. It Appendix 8-9; Sobel, Road to the Abbey). In the narrates two convincingly interwoven tales: John course of her efforts, she awakened the interest Harrison’s life is remembered, in parts even of Sir Arnold Wolfendale, the 14th Astronomer staged as a dream, by Rupert T. Gould when Royal, who gave momentum to the project. In he is in the process of restoring and protecting Taylor and Wolfendale’s report in the Notes and the timekeepers. Gould’s unstable mental con Records of the Royal Society, they concede that dition – he suffered from depression and several it was Sobel’s Longitude which had made John nervous breakdowns – is linked with the night Harrison famous more than 200 years after his mare of Harrison’s struggle and futile attempts death (53), although they firmly locate his work to convince the Board. While always sympathet in the context of the Royal Society.16 ic, Michael Gambon’s Harrison has touches of As mentioned above, the National Maritime the fanatic, which is for instance conveyed when Museum has two special exhibitions to honour his son William, at 40, suggests that Harrison the Longitude Board, John Harrison, and his always was more emotionally bound-up in his achievements. It may be questionable whether clocks than in his children (Longitude, 00:01:11). Harrison would have approved of being cele The journey to recognition by the Board of Lon brated along with the Board, with whose mem gitude becomes, for Harrison, also a journey to bers he had so many difficulties. Ships, Clocks wards a better understanding with his grown-up & Stars: The Quest for Longitude relates the lon son late in life, thus adding human interest to the gitude problem and celebrates the beauty and story. The film effortlessly intertwines the two time sophistication of the timekeepers.17 The exhib periods: a good example is Gould’s desperate ition trailer is dramatic and abounds with super race to save the clocks when they are moved out latives, even surpassing Sobel’s style (cf. Ships, of London in preparation for the Second World Clocks & Stars website). The trailer begins with War, and Harrison’s equally desperate, though an enumeration of the ‘greatest minds’, placing more resigned, dismantling of H 4 to prove its Harrison in a line with Galileo Galilei and Isaac quality to the Board (Longitude, 01:17), which Newton. The images are largely dark, first show are set in parallel. With all his shortcomings, the ing a starry sky, then an animated sequence of film’s Harrison is the epitome of a scientist, pre a ship at night on a stormy ocean, with the inset senting the Board with an even better idea for text “Lost, no way home, risking ships, risking a clock balance after they have just decided to lives.”18 The same image of a threateningly dark postpone the decision yet another time (Longi and empty sea, in a sparsely lighted room, on a tude, 00:01:39). Gould is recognised not simply huge screen, is the first to greet visitors of the ex as a man of many arcane interests, but also as hibition. To this visitor, this initial stress on effects the first to make John Harrison known once more seemed somewhat too much, particularly be to a wider audience. “Harrison was a real life for cause the exhibition as a whole is well-made and gotten hero, rediscovered by Rupert Gould and entertaining, but moves away from spectacular made famous by Dava Sobel”, director Charles heroics, emphasising the scientific community Sturridge is quoted on the DVD blurb. and the many serious efforts at determining lon In 2001, the National Maritime Museum gitude. brought out a DVD documentary on John Har The accompanying catalogue to the exhib rison’s timekeepers. The focus of this product is ition provides a wealth of information and is on the technical and scientific side; however, it richly illustrated. The texts seem to indicate a also includes enacted scenes, and it has foot conscious effort on the curators’ part to present age of the timekeepers running in close-up. The a complete picture, and to write John Harrison sheer beauty of the clocks ‘in action’ is fascinat back into the community. He is given due import ing even to a lay audience. ance, but he is not cast in a heroic mould. Dunn Finally, in 2006, a memorial stone for John and Higgitt attempt to convey a balanced view Harrison was revealed in Westminster Abbey. on events and explicitly include the difficulties In a rather whimsical but very suitable design, a the Longitude Board would have faced in its de bi-metallic strip runs through his name, and the cisions regarding Harrison, leaving the question longitude of the stone is given.15 His symbolic open. arrival in the Abbey [Harrison is buried in Hamp stead] marks the rise of his position within British
helden. heroes. héros. Ulrike Zimmermann
126 The question remains: were the Com What strikes me […] is that he possessed missioners acting unfairly, being over- an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century gift conscientious or doing their public duty? which I believe in this century we have Was the ‘Harrison method’ that was on lost. A gift that every scientist and novelist trial simply a single timekeeper that and historian and many statesmen of the proved capable of doing the job, or was it eighteenth and nineteenth century had: a the means of making a successful marine gift of industry, of industriousness, of re timekeeper? If the latter, success could garding 24 hours a day as little enough only be proved by making more of them. time in which to live a life and pursue your (Dunn and Higgitt 122)19 interests. I think of Darwin, going down to the seashore – any seashore at hand Nonetheless, Ships, Clocks & Stars is indebted to – for 41 years, with a broken teacup (he the heroic narrative around John Harrison, which had no grant from a national science foun played a decisive role in bringing the science of dation) and scooping up sand and algae longitude to the fore. It is doubtful whether the and brooding over them. And at the end of science of longitude would have awakened quite those 41 years, feeling confident enough to publish the Origin of Species. (Cooke as much interest without Sobel preparing the 18) ground earlier on. The exhibition Longitude Punk’d is located John Harrison not only was a self-made man, but at the Royal Observatory, the usual place of the also has the attraction of the underdog without timekeepers. This exhibition is largely informed politics and infrastructure to support him, who by the aesthetics of longitude and its apparatus comes to very late fame indeed. Although he did es, and the steampunk movement. by no means work alone, and although Sobel’s book includes this fact, her emphasis is on Harri On display will be opulent and ornate ap parel inspired by the night sky including son the lone struggler. That his heroics consisted gowns, headdresses, and a reimagining of technical and mechanical detail could – and of Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne’s originally did – make it difficult to cast him as a noted silk observing suit; outlandish con hero. This difficulty is overcome in several ways: traptions purporting to solve the longitude Harrison can be seen as an early ‘nerd hero’ and problem; and fanciful submissions and an obsessive, initially even amateur, tinkerer. whimsical illustrations presented to the Moreover, all current cultural products manage Board of Longitude. (Finch-Boyer) to emphasise the visual beauty of his clocks, and they also seem to bring out the fascination for the While Ships, Clocks & Stars aims to make the connection between micro- and macrocosm, and history of longitude determination accessible for scale in general. What is so enthralling about and understandable to the general public, Lon Harrison is, after all, the renewed realisation that gitude Punk’d takes an artistic viewpoint, with little things can rule the world. In Sobel’s words, John Harrison’s history serving as a springboard “[h]e wrested the world’s whereabouts from the for an exploration of the visual language of eight stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch.” eenth-century science and narrates the deter (Sobel, Longitude 175) Without tinkering and mination of longitude as alternate history. some people’s eye for detail, major explorations like those of James Cook would have been im possible. The sense that small-scale technical in 5. Conclusions novations often herald paradigm shifts in every day life is very much alive in our contemporary At present, John Harrison is certainly a well- world – which may also account for the Harrison known ‘Great Briton’ and no longer consigned boom.20 On a different level, Sobel’s phrasing to a historical niche for specialists. Dava Sobel, also reminds us of Harrison’s potentially arcane, inspired by the Longitude Symposium, picked almost esoteric knowledge: the discoverer of se up on Harrison’s qualities in a way that great crets becomes the dealer in secrets – although ly appealed to her readership. Her Longitude is in this case the ‘secrets’ are facts of mechanics a judicious mixture of drama and scientific fact, and secrets only to a lay audience. weaving a narrative of excitement and antagon A hero needs a community of admirers. In the ism, but also of patience and persistence with specialists’ world of horology and navigational regard to John Harrison. In the contribution by history, Harrison has always had that. In his time, Alistair Cooke to the Longitude Symposium, we can assume that he was highly respected Harrison becomes a role model for scientists in amongst clockmakers, but his group of support a nostalgic reminiscence of one of the greatest ers was neither large nor influential enough to British scientists ever: sway the Board for a very long time. In the end, it needed the one most powerful supporter, King
helden. heroes. héros. John Harrison and the Heroics of Longitude
George III. In the 21st century, readers, film audi His heroics are understated [and underrated] 127 ences, and museum visitors share a fascination heroics. This, as Alistair Cook jokingly remarked for Harrison. Probably his name and work are in his introductory speech to the Longitude Sym now known to more people than they ever were posium, seems to be the bane also of Harrison’s in his lifetime. Straddling the boundaries of elite afterlife: scientific culture, John Harrison is at present moving towards a place in common knowledge, But I find John Harrison to be a close com approaching popular culture,21 as shown, for ex petitor [to Darwin] for tenacious scholarly ample, by the extensive Harrison merchandise industry. He hears, when he’s 21, that the on sale in the National Maritime Museum. After government is offering a prize (the stupen his rediscovery, Harrison was first made access dous amount of £20,000) for an accurate 22 marine timekeeper. ‘Promptly,’ it says in ible and then marketable. my account, he settled to the problem and The creation of a hero narrative is a contest solved it – promptly? – in 45 years. And, ed space, and as he becomes more popular, promptly, the British government paid him the question arises as to which sphere Harrison his prize – fourteen years later, when he actually belongs. Initially, in his time, Harrison was 80! Well done! No wonder you’re was firmly located with scientists: astronomers celebrating his birth tonight, promptly 300 and horologists. Then, with its reproducibility and years after the event. (Cooke 18) availability for all navigators, and its rapid spread, his technology became in a way a common pos This is a humorous account, but it speaks for the session. The Longitude Symposium of 1993, an remarkable staying power of John Harrison, his academic event, retrieved John Harrison’s name discovery, and his story through time. Discours for a journalist, who would become a writer of es of the heroic are pertinent and potent in mak popular books. It is striking that the authors of all ing technological progress and scientific discov the Harrison products in this study concede from eries accessible and popular, and are hence a the start that it was Sobel who brought him back force to be reckoned with in the dissemination of into the limelight. There are, however, academ knowledge. ics who are highly critical of Sobel’s and similar projects. An entertaining case in point is Miller’s 1 For an interview with Dava Sobel on the inception of her The ‘Sobel Effect’, subtitled The Amazing Tale of first book, see the 2008 Harper edition’s appendix: There Were Only Small Plans. Travis Ellborough talks to Dava So How Multitudes of Popular Writers Pinched All bel 2-7. the Best Stories in the History of Science and 2 Besides Longitude, Dava Sobel is the author of Galileo’s Became Rich and Famous while Historians Lan Daughter [2000], The Planets [2005], and A More Perfect guished in Accustomed Poverty and Obscurity, Heaven [2011], and translator of the letters of Suor Maria and How this Transformed the World. A Reflec Celeste [Galilei] to her father. tion on a Publishing Phenomenon. Miller’s take 3 See, for instance, the fact sheet by the Royal Naval Mu on the phenomenon is detailed and convincing; seum Library, “Biography: John Harrison.” nevertheless, this reader could not shed the im 4 The spellings of the Admiral’s name vary. Numbers of pression of simple professional jealousy at work casualties are also uncertain, varying between 800 and 2000 seamen. For accounts of the Scilly disaster, see for instance here, although Miller tries hard to overcome this Lewis 2006, the information sheet of the Royal Naval Muse and to cast his essay as an intellectual mind- um Library, and of course Sobel’s Longitude 11-13. Note that game.23 The history of science, after all, does not Sobel’s account is the most melodramatic of the three: She have proprietors, and writers of popular books includes the story of Sir Cloudesley’s murder as a fact. How ever, it was never proven that he was still alive when washed tend to be better paid than academics. For pres on the shore and murdered by a local woman for a ring that ent purposes, it is interesting that Miller sees a he wore. common denominator in Sobel-style books in 5 King’s article includes biographical information on John their reliance “on the trope of heroic discovery,” Harrison. The biography by Humphrey Quill [John Harrison: and he then proceeds to isolate a number of sci The Man Who Found Longitude, 1966] is unfortunately out of entific “hero types.” (Miller 189-190) He seems print. to take this as evidence for the lack of imagin 6 For a neutral account of the negotiations between John Harrison and the Board, and for the behaviour of the Royal ation on the part of the respective writers, while Astronomer Nevil Maskelyne, see, for example, Randall 247- it could point to their ingenuity: one of the best 252, Langley 822, and Bailey 412-418. ways to make scientific detail – bi-metallic strips 7 However, Sobel provides a brief overview of Harrison’s and grasshopper escapements – interesting to a life in her first chapter, which makes her book less of a thriller wider audience is to embed them in discourses than it could have been, and gives it a more serious layout. of the heroic. 8 Essentially, the lunar distance method keeps time by Arguably, John Harrison is a very suitable Brit measuring the movement of the moon against the sun and ish hero because, despite all the superlatives sur the stars; see Howse, and Sobel’s chapter 3. rounding him, he still stands for understatement.
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128 9 As already mentioned above, the Longitude Prize was Works Cited never awarded, as Sobel herself writes in her 13th chapter, cf. Sobel, Longitude 149. Andrewes, William J. H. “Even Newton Could Be Wrong: The 10 One could also speculate about the sounds of the two Story of Harrison’s First Three Sea Clocks.” The Quest for men’s names, with the Latinate Maskelyne in opposition to Longitude. The Proceedings of the Longitude Symposium, the plain English Harrison, and the associations evoked by Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November this. See The Internet Surname Database. 4-6, 1993. Ed. William J. H. Andrewes. Cambridge, Mass.: 11 Taylor and Wolfendale also make note of Harrison’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 1996: 189- appreciation within the lofty circles of the Royal Society: 234. “Insofar as the Astronomers Royal were all Fellows of the ---. “Introduction.” The Quest for Longitude. 1-9. Royal Society and these office-holders were all in favour of the ‘lunar method’, it might have been expected that the So Asch, Ronald G. “The Hero in the Early Modern Period and ciety would be anti-Harrison. However, this was not the case. Beyond: An Elusive Cultural Construct and an Indispens Even the astronomers soon came to realize that they were able Focus of Social Identity?” helden. heroes. héros. dealing with a brilliant man, albeit one who could be argu E-Journal on Cultures of the Heroic. Special Issue: Lan mentative and self-opinionated […].” (57) guages and Functions of the Heroic. 1 (2014): 5-12. DOI 10.6094/helden.heroes.heros./2014/QM/02 12 For a concise comparison of H1-H4, see the page by the National Maritime Museum, John Harrison and the Longitude Bailey, John F. “Longitude and the Sea Clock.” History Today Problem. 20. 6 (1970): 410-418. 13 For an account of how advanced scientific knowledge Betts, Jonathan. “John Harrison (1693-1776) and Lt. Cdr made British colonial expansion possible, and of the impor Rupert T. Gould R. N. (1890-1948).” 14 July 2014
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Langley, Michael. “John Harrison. The Hero of Longitude.” White, Hayden. Metahistory. The Historical Imagination in 129 History Today 26. 12 (1976): 818-823. Nineteenth-Century Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1993. “Last Name: Maskelyne.” The Internet Surname Database. 18 July 2014.