Until the mid 1750s, navigation at sea was an unsolved problem due to the difficulty in calculating longitudinal position. Navigators could determine their latitude by measuring the sun’s angle at noon (i.e., when it reached its highest point in the sky). To find their longitude, however, they needed a portable time standard that would work aboard a ship. Chronometer provided such time. By comparing local high noon to the chronometer’s time, a navigator could use the time difference to determine the ship’s present longitude. Since the Earth rotates 360 degrees every day (that is, 24 hours or 1,440 minutes), the time difference between the two points reveals how many degrees separate them.
About the author
Amit Sharma
Graduated from M.E.R.I. Mumbai (Mumbai University), After a brief sailing founded this website with the idea to bring the maritime education online which must be free and available for all at all times and to find basic solutions that are of extreme importance to a seafarer by our innovative ideas.