Board of Longitude
The
Board of Longitude was a British Government body formed in
1714 to solve the problem of finding
longitude at sea. Its establishment was largely propelled by the
1707 grounding of Vice-Admiral Clowdisley Shovell's fleet off the
Scilly Isles. The Board gathered the greatest scientific minds of its day to work on the problem, including Sir
Isaac Newton, and also put up prizes for those who could demonstrate a working device: the massive sums of 10,000
British pounds for a method that could determine longitude to within 60
nautical miles, 15,000 for one that could determine it within 40, and 20,000 pounds if the method could determine longitude within 30 nautical miles.