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Sunday, June 18. 2023

Longitude, clocks, and Greenwich Mean Time

Navigation was difficult without good clocks. What would we all do without GPS on boats? I can't use a sextant.



Posted by Bird Dog at 17:05 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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What would we all do without GPS?

I believe many people would literally be lost.

From my point of view it would be very entertaining to watch the effects of GPS suddenly going dark.
#1 feeblemind on 2023-06-18 18:09 (Reply)
Considering people driving into lakes with the GPS, I suppose some are already lost with GPS
#1.1 Joe B. on 2023-06-18 18:14 (Reply)
I still have paper maps in my car and truck. And if GPS suddenly went dark, I could probably find a job with the USAF teaching celestial navigation. Since I used to teach that stuff at the USAF navigation school at Mather AFB. I still have all the books....
#2 Ken Mitchell on 2023-06-18 18:38 (Reply)
I retired from an aircarrier just over a decade ago and at that time they still flew with celestial navigation instruments in every aircraft along with dosimeters. We still had to confirm aircraft compass accuracy with a compass rose at the airport.
#2.1 indyjonesouthere on 2023-06-18 21:32 (Reply)
Michael Gambon stars as clockmaker John Harrison in a dramatization of Harrison’s development of the marine chronometer in the TV movie Longitude. The movie includes a parallel story about Rupert Gould, played by Jeremy Irons, who restored Harrison’s original chronometers. Gambon won a BAFTA for best actor for the role.
#3 Zachriel on 2023-06-18 22:26 (Reply)
Still have my Brunton, and reading maps is my first instinct. Not relying on GPS, although I trust it. Even when I was using a GPS on a wilderness canoe trip - and believe me, it was handy - I was still depending on my ability to read the shorelines by comparing my eye to the map - confirming what the little arrow was telling me on the GPS screen.
#4 Aggie on 2023-06-18 23:30 (Reply)
"What would we all do without GPS?"

I don't know about everybody else, but if I have to go somewhere I've never been before, I look at a map and then go there. I have a 2012 Nissan with a GPS navigation system I've never used.
#5 Not Sure on 2023-06-18 23:32 (Reply)
Talking about boat trips, not car trips
#5.1 BD on 2023-06-19 06:24 (Reply)
No GPS?
Surely most of us can navigate off the pole star?
#6 tired dog on 2023-06-19 14:07 (Reply)
Naval history YouTuber Drachinifel also did a segment on this from Greenwich. The efforts by the elites to sabotage Harrison's clockwork because they firmly believed in an astronomical solution similar to latitude calculation was a reminder that history rhymes.
#7 Christopher B on 2023-06-20 07:47 (Reply)

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