NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Robin Stuart
Date: 2018 Dec 23, 12:33 -0800
Tony,
Take a look at Shadwell, C.F.A. (1861). Notes on the Management of Chronometers and the Measurement of Meridian
Distances. J. D. Potter, London. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn2vz5
If you read Dana Sobel's Longitude you come away with the impression that, once Harrison had won the prize, finding longitude was a piece of cake but clearly even in the early part of the 20th century the management of the chronometers required a great deal of trouble and effort.
Brad's statement "The face time of the chronometer is NEVER changed." is a bit too general and "RARELY" would probably be a better word. . As discussed in our paper Navigation of the Shackleton Expedition on the Weddell Sea pack ice (p.88) there is evidence of a reset happening. This was done when changing from one working chronometer to another on abandoning the ship. Hopefully that sort of thing didn't happen too often!
Robin Stuart
