Longitude

7.0

2000•2h 5m

The fascinating story of John Harrison who, in the 18th century, believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship—and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.

Production

Seasons

2 Episodes • Premiered 2000

1. Part 1

When the British Parliament creates an award of £20,000 to whoever can come up with a solution for determining longitude at sea, a carpenter-turned-clockmaker, John Harrison, begins his experiments to build an accurate timepiece unaffected by sea travel. His main obstacles are lack of money, a judgment Board convinced that the answer lies in astronomy and not clocks, and the mechanics of the clock itself.

2. Part 2

Rallying after sickness to prove the integrity of their marvelous seafaring chronometers, the Harrisons still had to fight for official recognition, and Gould's restoration of the Harrison clockworks provides a fitting coda to this exceptional story about the thrill of discovery and the tenacity of remarkable men.