LONGITUDE

[pabrides]

OK, so Im not a big TV fan.  I have not watched TV in many years, but this is not to say i dont like movies. If provoked by a good title or reputation Ill force a DVD into the machine, make some pop-corn, open a cold bottle of soda, and immerse myself into a world designed by some obscure producer. 

A year ago or so I found a movie on the internet made just for me.  Ive probably watched the goofy thing 20 times and I keep going back for more.  The acting is superb, the set is vivid and appropriate, the special effects are adequate, and the music score is pleasant. 

The Movie LONGITUDE  has been my favorite for quite some time now and has displaced THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES (another wonderful British film) as my go-to video for perennial entertainment. 

LONGITUDE is quite a long movie and seldom, in my view, slows down.  My only weak criticism would be of the actor who plays John Harrison's  son - the eldest. (there are two actors playing the part).  The one who plays the son as an adult is a bit of a ham. Several times he comes close to spoiling what might be one of the greatest made-for-TV movies ever created...  Another great British movie  is called THREE MEN IN A BOAT. 

Watch LONGITUDE on Youtube soon - you wont regret it.  There are several copies of this movie on the internet - I think Ive given you the best one. Its in two parts so when you see the credits half way through dont freak out... the second half of the movie starts almost immediately.

Joe

[LouisC]

Joe,

Excellent video. I saw it quite a while ago. Very well done and a pleasure to watch. Concerning John Harrison (may his name be remembered forever) and his great work, I've often wondered if it crossed his mind to start making chronometers by mass production (if possible) and then selling them to mariners? It would have by-passed that wretched longitude board and that troublemaker Maskelyne. He could've sold the chronometers based on their own value alone.

History is what happened. How many people even know who John Harrison was?

Ah! Those Magnificent Men and their flying machines.....go uppity up up and down dity down....or something like that?

Lou

[pabrides]

Joe,

Excellent video.  
I've often wondered if it crossed his mind to start making chronometers by mass production (if possible) and then selling them to mariners?  
He could've sold the chronometers based on their own value alone.
Lou

It took Harrison over 50 years to make and test 4 clocks - the average merchant marine could never hope to afford one.... Even today I could hardly afford to buy a sextant, let alone a nice ship's chronometer. Government funding supported his timepiece efforts; the family business fed his family.  Then again Harrison was very secretive about his workings for fear of theft. The British government wanted the question of longitude solves to protect naval ships first and commercial ships second. 

My question is, where is all the modern technology contemporary governments have acquired (stolen)? Energy, transportation, electronic, generation, anti-gravity, economy, optical, chemical patents...etc that produced for the masses might have improved our lives in general at reasonable expense.

joe

[Fred_B]

Good questions!

Harrison was very "wordy" and in one of the pamphlets he wrote the first sentence was 35 pages long.

What makes me pull out the remaining hair I have is the perpetual statement of, "the secret to knowing where you are is knowing what time it is". This line is repeated so many times and is largely false. They never tell you, or rarely tell you, that you need a sextant to measure the particular body and a lot of paper work.

Yes, we always follow the money....

Fred

[pabrides]

Good questions!

Harrison was very "wordy" and in one of the pamphlets he wrote the first sentence was 35 pages long.

What makes me pull out the remaining hair I have is the perpetual statement of, "the secret to knowing where you are is knowing what time it is".  This line is repeated so many times and is largely false.  They never tell you, or rarely tell you, that you need a sextant to measure the particular body and a lot of paper work.

Yes, we always follow the money....

Fred

I wish Slocum had been more informative about his navigation successes and misadventures.  He wrote as though CN was a given even though he used the lunar method to get the correct time to adjust his tin clock.  You get the feeling sometimes that he was happy just knowing which ocean he was in.  Of course he was a merchant captain of barks and full rigged ships long before he took his solo circumnavigation; he probably felt that his readers would get bored with the numbers, and to an extent he was perhaps right.  There is a sense of pride about his boat, however, as for the brand of sextant he used or its IE we may never know.

joe

[P.Rutherford]

In one part of his book, around the world, he speaks of using his sextant to take a lunar and then, just as calculated...the island appeared a few hours later.

Lunars would be the death of my interest in cn...if I could do them.

Yes, you're probably correct- he was a well practiced sailor and navigator with all of the attendant skills.


Paul

[pabrides]

In one part of his book, around the world, he speaks of using his sextant to take a lunar and then, just as calculated...the island appeared a few hours later.

Lunars would be the death of my interest in cn...if I could do them.

Yes, you're probably correct- he was a well practiced sailor and navigator with all of the attendant skills.


Paul

The fun thing about CN is that one can dive as deep as one feels comfortable.  Im sure if you had buddies around with similar interests you might be inclined to dive for lunars...  I may give it a try one of these days.  The part about finding GMT intrigues me.  Then you wouldnt need an expensive chronometer or WWV radio or calculator. Just a sextant, the lunar tables, an abbreviated almanac, and some charts.  It would be nice to have a boat like Slocum's as well; it just about sailed itself.  There is time then to do the lunar math, read a book, or take a snooze.

joe