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Men of Invention and Industry-Part14_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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certificate, stating that the principles of his machine for

measuring time promised a very great and sufficient degree of



exactness. In consequence of this certificate, the machine, at

the request of the inventor, and at the recommendation of the



Lords of the Admiralty, was placed on board a man-of-war.

Sir Charles Wager, then first Lord of the Admiralty, wrote to the



captain of the Centurion, stating that the instrument had been

approved by mathematicians as the best that had been made for



measuring time; and requesting his kind treatment of Mr.

Harrison, who was to accompany it to Lisbon. Captain Proctor



answered the First Lord from Spithead, dated May l7th, 1736,

promising his attention to Harrison's comfort, but intimating his



fear that he had attempted impossibilities. It is always so with

a new thing. The first steam-engine, the first gaslight, the



first locomotive, the first steamboat to America, the first

electric telegraph, were all impossibilities!



This first chronometer behaved very well on the outwardvoyage in

the Centurion. It was not affected by the roughest weather, or



by the working of the ship through the rolling waves of the Bay

of Biscay. It was brought back, with Harrison, in the Orford



man-of-war, when its great utility was proved in a remarkable

manner, although, from the voyage being nearly on a meridian, the



risk of losing the longitude was comparatively small. Yet the

following was the certificate of the captain of the ship, dated



the 24th June, 1737: "When we made the land, the said land,

according to my reckoning (and others), ought to have been the



Start; but, before we knew what land it was, John Harrison

declared to me and the rest of the ship's company that, according



to his observations with his machine, it ought to be the

Lizard--the which, indeed, it was found to be, his observation



showing the ship to be more west than my reckoning, above one

degree and twenty-six miles,"--that is, nearly ninety miles out



of its course!

Six days later--that is, on the 30th June--the Board of Longitude



met, when Harrison was present, and produced the chronometer with

which he had made the voyage to Lisbon and back. The minute



states: "Mr. John Harrison produced a new invented machine, in

the nature of clockwork, whereby he proposes to keep time at sea



with more exactness than by any other instrument or method

hitherto contrived, in order to the discovery of the longitude at



sea; and proposes to make another machine of smaller dimensions

within the space of two years, whereby he will endeavour to



correct some defects which he hath found in that already

prepared, so as to render the same more perfect; which machine,



when completed, he is desirous of having tried in one of His

Majesty's ships that shall be bound to the West Indies; but at



the same time represented that he should not be able, by reason

of his necessitous circumstances, to go on and finish his said



machine without assistance, and requested that he may be

furnished with the sum of 500L., to put him in a capacity to



perform the same, and to make a perfect experiment thereof."

The result of the meeting was that 500L. was ordered to be paid



to Harrison, one moiety as soon as convenient, and the other when

he has produced a certificate from the captain of one of His



Majesty's ships that he has put the machine on board into the

captain's possession. Mr. George Graham, who was consulted,



urged that the Commissioners should grant Harrison at least

1000L., but they only awarded him half the sum, and at first only



a moiety of the amount voted. At the recommendation of Lord

Monson, who was present, Harrison accepted the 250L. as a help



towards the heavy expenses which he had already incurred, and was

again about to incur, in perfecting the invention. He was



instructed to make his new chronometer of less dimensions, as the

one exhibited was cumbersome and heavy, and occupied too much



space on board.

He accordingly proceeded to make his second chronometer. It



occupied a space of only about half the size of the first. He

introduced several improvements. He lessened the number of the



wheels, and thereby diminished friction. But the general




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