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I think because it worked at all.  The only viable competitor was Lunars, and 
the Nautical Almanac required to solve them was established and maintained by 
Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal and an English subject.

Neither method was perfect.  But they did provide a very useful figure of 
merit.  The chronometer error and rate had to be established on a regular 
basis.  The tables to perform the lunar were imperfect, leading to erroneous 
results.  Even with all that, it still worked.

When you have both keys to the kingdom, you don't necessarily share them 
freely!  When you have a method whereby you can determine longitude, you have 
an advantage over a fellow who cannot.  You can get to places faster, safer 
and more accurately.

That's my two cents.

Remember that England didn't rule the waves just because of the chronometer.  
English dominance was due to technology (ship types, cannon types, etc), 
tactics (how to sail a ship of the line, how the line worked, etc) and 
strategy.  There's more to a navy than just the equipment.  There is also the 
spirit of the men.  What they fight for and why is a key element.  I will 
take highly spirited and trained men over a rag tag navy any day.  And 
nothing raises the men's spirits more than to know that they were on the 
winning side!

Naval tactics are fundamentally attrition, but there are factors which affect 
attrition.  But this discussion takes us away from navigation.

Best Regards
Brad



-----Original Message-----
From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of James N Wilson
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:49 PM
To: NavList@fer3.com
Subject: [NavList 8180] Re: How Many Chronometers?


Brad:

With all of those qualifications, how did John Harrison's creation give
England the supremacy of the seas by virtue of having the "Secret of
longitude?"

Jim Wilson
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