Longitude TV drama

[corsair91]

Longitude TV drama


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(TV_series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192263/

Longitude is a 2000 TV drama produced by Granada Television and the A&E Network for the UK Channel 4.

It is a dramatisation of the 1995 book of the same title by Dava Sobel. It was written and directed by Charles Sturridge and stars Michael Gambon as clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776) and Jeremy Irons as horologist Rupert Gould (1890-1948).

Longitude presents the story of Harrison's efforts to develop the marine chronometer and thereby win the Longitude prize in the 18th century. This is interwoven with the story of Gould, a retired naval officer, who is restoring Harrison's four chronometers and popularises his achievements in the early twentieth century.


Longitude FULL MOVIE 2000 UK Low-resolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHvt48S9l4w
3:18:20 runtime


Longitude
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude


Marine chronometer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_chronometer

A marine chronometer is a timepiece that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of accurately measuring the time of a known fixed location, for example Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and the time at the current location. When first developed in the 18th century, it was a major technical achievement, as accurate knowledge of the time over a long sea voyage is necessary for navigation, lacking electronic or communications aids. The first true chronometer was the life work of one man, John Harrison, spanning 31 years of persistent experimentation and testing that revolutionized naval (and later aerial) navigation and enabling the Age of Discovery and Colonialism to accelerate.

To determine a position on the Earth's surface, it is necessary and sufficient to know the latitude, longitude, and altitude. Altitude considerations can naturally be ignored for vessels operating at sea level. Until the mid-1750s, accurate navigation at sea out of sight of land was an unsolved problem due to the difficulty in calculating longitude. Navigators could determine their latitude by measuring the sun's angle at noon (i.e., when it reached its highest point in the sky, or culmination) or, in the Northern Hemisphere, to measure the angle of Polaris (the North Star) from the horizon (usually during twilight). To find their longitude, however, they needed a time standard that would work aboard a ship.

The purpose of a chronometer is to measure accurately the time of a known fixed location, for example Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This is particularly important for navigation. Knowing GMT at local noon allows a navigator to use the time difference between the ship's position and the Greenwich Meridian to determine the ship's longitude. As the Earth rotates at a regular rate, the time difference between the chronometer and the ship's local time can be used to calculate the longitude of the ship relative to the Greenwich Meridian (defined as 0°) using spherical trigonometry. In modern practice, a nautical almanac and trigonometric sight-reduction tables permit navigators to measure the Sun, Moon, visible planets, or any of 57 selected stars for navigation at any time that the horizon is visible.


In 1714, the British government offered a longitude prize for a method of determining longitude at sea, with the awards ranging from £10,000 to £20,000 (£2 million to £4 million in 2020 terms) depending on accuracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_rewards

John Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter, submitted a project in 1730, and in 1735 completed a clock based on a pair of counter-oscillating weighted beams connected by springs whose motion was not influenced by gravity or the motion of a ship. His first two sea timepieces H1 and H2 (completed in 1741) used this system, but he realised that they had a fundamental sensitivity to centrifugal force, which meant that they could never be accurate enough at sea. Construction of his third machine, designated H3, in 1759 included novel circular balances and the invention of the bi-metallic strip and caged roller bearings, inventions which are still widely used. However, H3's circular balances still proved too inaccurate and he eventually abandoned the large machines.

Harrison solved the precision problems with his much smaller H4 chronometer design in 1761. H4 looked much like a large five-inch (12 cm) diameter pocket watch. In 1761, Harrison submitted H4 for the £20,000 longitude prize. His design used a fast-beating balance wheel controlled by a temperature-compensated spiral spring. These features remained in use until stable electronic oscillators allowed very accurate portable timepieces to be made at affordable cost,

The first measurement of longitude aboard a ship was made in 1767 using the marine chronometer.

The new technology was initially so expensive that not all ships carried chronometers, as illustrated by the fateful last journey of the East Indiaman Arniston, shipwrecked with the loss of 372 lives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arniston_(ship)

and the earlier

Scilly naval disaster of 1707
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilly_naval_disaster_of_1707

However, by 1825, the Royal Navy had begun routinely supplying its vessels with chronometers.

It was common for ships at the time to observe a time ball, such as the one at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, to check their chronometers before departing on a long voyage. Every day, ships would anchor briefly in the River Thames at Greenwich, waiting for the ball at the observatory to drop at precisely 1pm. This practice was in small part responsible for the subsequent adoption of Greenwich Mean Time as an international standard.

In typical use, the chronometer would be mounted in a sheltered location below decks to avoid damage and exposure to the elements. Mariners would use the chronometer to set a so-called hack watch, which would be carried on deck to make the astronomical observations. Though much less accurate (and expensive) than the chronometer, the hack watch would be satisfactory for a short period of time after setting it (i.e., long enough to make the observations).

Without their accuracy and the accuracy of the feats of navigation that marine chronometers enabled, it is arguable that the ascendancy of the Royal Navy, and by extension that of the British Empire, might not have occurred so overwhelmingly; the formation of the empire by wars and conquests of colonies abroad took place in a period in which British vessels had reliable navigation due to the chronometer, while their Portuguese, Dutch, and French opponents did not.

The most complete international collection of marine chronometers, including Harrison's H1 to H4, is at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, UK.

In 1884 the International Meridian Conference adopted the Greenwich meridian as the universal Prime Meridian or zero point of longitude.

Previously Countries typically used their own Capital City as zero point longititude.
France used Paris and proposed this in the 1884 Meridan Conference, and the US used either Philadelphia or Washington D.C.
Greenwich was adopted, given that the Royal Navy Navigation Charts were typically the most accurate and used Greenwich, it was very practical to adopt Greenwich. Since the British were the first to crack the longititude problem it was also a recognition of their achivement.


Sextant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant

A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation. The estimation of this angle, the altitude, is known as sighting or shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart for example, sighting the Sun at noon or Polaris at night (in the Northern Hemisphere) to estimate latitude.

[Salty Dog]

Amazing research! Thanks!

[corsair91]

Fun Fact

The Apollo Moonshot Space capsules had both an inertial Naviagation System, but also the space going equivalent of a space sextant telescope as a navigation backup.

Which sort of makes them the 1st space ships.


some google hits on a search for
apollo space sextant

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/06/the-story-of-the-apollo-sextant

https://wehackthemoon.com/tech/space-sextant-navigates-moon-missions

http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2019/07/navigating-to-the-moon-remembering-the-apollo-sextant/

[corsair91]

Astrolabe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrolabe

An elaborate inclinometer, and can be considered an analog calculator capable of working out several different kinds of problems in astronomy. Historically used by astronomers and navigators to measure the altitude above the horizon of a celestial body, day or night, it can be used to identify stars or planets, to determine local latitude given local time (and vice versa), to survey, or to triangulate. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery for all these purposes.

The astrolabe's importance not only comes from the early development of astronomy, but is also effective for determining latitude on land or calm seas. Although it is less reliable on the heaving deck of a ship in rough seas, the mariner's astrolabe was developed to solve that problem.



Found: The Oldest Astrolabe Ever Discovered
It sank with a Portuguese ship in 1503.
by Sarah Laskow October 25, 2017

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-the-oldest-astrolabe-ever-discovered

[parksbanyon]

My father in law was a navigator in a US Navy A3-D during the early 60's and used all this equipment as a standard part of his job.

[corsair91]

Modern navigation is typically now by using a GPS receiver.

Militaries I believe still train in the older navigation methods as
Satellites may not be available during potential hostilities.


Global Positioning System (GPS)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

The Global Positioning System (GPS)
is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force.

It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

As of 2018, GPS postional accuracy is to within 30 cms or 11.8 inches.

The GPS service is provided by the United States government, which can selectively deny access to the system.


Other global or regional satellite navigation systems:

The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeiDou_Navigation_Satellite_System

European Union Galileo positioning system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)

India's NavIC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Regional_Navigation_Satellite_System

Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-Zenith_Satellite_System


How Does GPS Work?
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/gps/en/


The Short Answer:
GPS is a system of 30+ navigation satellites circling Earth. We know where they are because they constantly send out signals. A GPS receiver in your phone listens for these signals. Once the receiver calculates its distance from four or more GPS satellites, it can figure out where you are.


One Movie about the dangers of GPS misuse

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) film
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Never_Dies

James Bond 007 investigates the sinking of a British warship in Chinese waters, the theft of one of the ship's cruise missiles—and the shooting down of a Chinese fighter plane. He uncovers a link to media mogul Elliot Carver which suggests that Carver had purchased a GPS encoder on the black market.

Bond encounters Chinese agent Wai Lin, who is also investigating the matter and the two agree to work together. They discover that Carver had used the GPS encoder to push the British ship off course and into Chinese waters to incite a war for ratings. With the British fleet on their way to China, Bond and Wai Lin find Carver's stealth ship, board it and prevent the firing of a British cruise missile at Beijing. They blow a hole in the ship, exposing it to radar, leading to its sinking and thus averting war between Britain and China.

[corsair91]

The Fascinating Prescience of Tomorrow Never Dies
https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-fascinating-prescience-of-tomorrow-never-dies/

It's 20 years today that Tomorrow Never DIes first landed in UK cinemas. But was it, in its own way, ahead of its time?

By Mark Allison |
December 12, 2017

Imagine a world in which deceitful news reporters and mysterious computer hackers are conspiring to destabilize the geopolitical status quo. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has developed delusions of grandeur about its place in the world, and begun to embark upon an effort to restore itself to former imperial greatness. All this might seem a little familiar to anyone who has glanced at a newspaper recently, but it’s not a summary of recent events – this is a synopsis for the seventeenth James Bond film, Roger Spottiswoode’s Tomorrow Never Dies, which has just turned 20 years old.

We’ve called this “the forgotten middle child of the Brosnan era”, Tomorrow Never Dies proved to be a disappointing follow-up to 1995’s Goldeneye, and is not fondly remembered by much of the Bond fandom.

And yet, two decades since its release, it is a film which feels disconcertingly relevant. The plot, while admittedly far-fetched, deals with threats which have become all-too recognisable in 2017, including cyberterrorism and an institutionally dishonest news media. It might make for a thoroughly mediocre Bond film, but, somehow, Tomorrow Never Dies seems to have accidentally predicted the alarming state of the world today.

The villain of the piece is Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a maniacal media mogul and thinly veiled caricature of Rupert Murdoch. Described as being able to ‘topple governments with a single broadcast’, his efforts are supported by a global news empire, a state-of-the-art satellite network and, um, an advanced stealth boat. Carver delights in pushing what would now be described as ‘fake news’ and, like any media tycoon with too much time on his hands, he plots to improve his ratings by fermenting a war between Britain and China.

The concept of misleading and sensationalized news reporting is older than the printing press itself, but Tomorrow Never Dies presents a world faced with a new breed of unscrupulous journalism and advanced communications technologies. Carver uses his network to confuse British and Chinese Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), intending to bring the two countries into conflict, while his newspapers aggravate from the sidelines. It’s an improbable set-up which was likely intended as a satire of Murdoch’s unaccountable media empire, but the risks of such technological manipulation have since proved to be frighteningly plausible.

Indeed, recent developments across the western world have suggested that foreign hackers and internet bots have a vice-like grip upon the most basic functions of democracy. Whether they hail from Russia, North Korea, or a basement in Norwich (it could happen), malevolent influences are allegedly hard at work undermining sovereign powers and spreading misinformation across the internet, all at the expense of a crumbling liberal democratic order.

Of course, Tomorrow Never Dies wasn’t the first film, or even the first Bond film, to focus on technological terrorism. John Badham’s 1983 film WarGames had popularized the concept some 17 years prior, and the mid-1990s were a golden age for the techno-thriller genre. Iain Softley’s Hackers is a notorious example from this period, which also included The Net, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, and Enemy Of The State. What makes Tomorrow Never Dies so relevant today, however, is that it explicitly associates cyberterrorism with a complicit and morally bankrupt news media industry. There are obvious parallels to be drawn with real-life phone hacking scandals and the recent growth of ‘alternative’ media and fake news websites, even if Britain is yet to go to war with China.

Technology wasn’t the only modern danger to be pre-empted by Tomorrow Never Dies – it also offers a revealing peak into the confused state of the British national psyche, which might help to explain the country’s ongoing Brexit debates. The film’s emphasis on Sino-British relations was topical upon release, opening mere months after China had reclaimed sovereignty over the former British colony of Hong Kong. Often considered the final nail in the coffin of the British Empire, this was a diplomatic humiliation which Tomorrow Never Dies seeks to redress with a skirmish between the Royal Navy and the People’s Liberation Army.

In the film, after a British warship is sunk in what they believe to be international waters, the British admiralty push for immediate and forceful retaliation against the Chinese, as if restaging the Opium Wars of the 19th century. With the newspapers and naval authorities ‘screaming for blood’, it falls to James Bond to prevent an escalation into full-scale war.

Such a demonstration of British military might would have been fanciful in the real world, but James Bond has never existed in the real world. He is a fantasy figure rooted in Britain’s post-imperial anxiety, invented in the early 1950s as a projection of British power at a time when the county’s influence was rapidly disintegrating. This popular unease over Britain’s diminished status in the world and the loss of its overseas territories has been a process lasting decades, with Brexit being the latest attempt to return to an invented ideal of former greatness.

The war with China which is narrowly averted in Tomorrow Never Dies might be an improbable development, but it works as a manifestation of Britain’s subconscious desire to resume its place as a leading world power. This is the same desire which has brought about recurring nostalgia for the Empire and the ‘blitz spirit’, including the recent pandemic of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters. Likewise, the Brexit vote has caused much talk of Britain resuming its historic role as a great trading nation. The referendum result might not be as calamitous as a fictional war with China, but it is at least partially guided by the same nationalistic impulse.

If all this tells us anything, it’s that the dangers and instabilities of the world today weren’t conjured from nothing, but have been sewn into our society over the course of decades. James Bond films might be a poor substitute for Nostradamus, but they can help us to understand how we got into such a situation. In many ways, of course, the world in 1997 was a very different place. New Labour had soared to power on the promise that “things can only get better”, the Spice Girls were at the height of their power, and Oasis had ushered in the end of Britpop with their album Be Here Now. The government and the music charts have changed, but the villains of today are still much as they were 20 years ago. Where’s James Bond when you need him…?

[corsair91]

How did early Sailors navigate the Oceans?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DlNhbkPiYY

Do you know how the early sailors navigate the oceans? The technology today makes it real easy to navigate the oceans. But it's very interesting to know how the early sailors managed to navigate without it. There's a lot of history on it. I tried my best to compile some important and interesting parts of it into this video. Hope you like it

[corsair91]

Navigating to the Sextant
By Philip K. Allan
June 2020
Naval History Magazine


https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/june/navigating-sextant

kamals, mariner's astrolabe, quadrant, Davis quadrant, sextant,
Global Positioning System outlined

[corsair91]

A Rude Awakening
A two-year tour on a Royal Navy destroyer showed one young surface warfare officer how much he didn't know.
By Lieutenant Mitch McGuffie, U.S. Navy
January 2009
Proceedings
Vol. 135/1/1,271

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2009/january/rude-awakening


How one experienced US Navy Navigator (by US Navy Standards)
found out differently while serving with the Royal Navy



This is one Royal Navy Training course,
generally regarded as the best in the world
for candidate Sub Captains.

Submarine Command Course "The Perisher"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_Command_Course

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/royal-navy-perisher-training-best-3330611


The Royal Navy being smaller than the US Navy can go for a more
quality over quantity approach.



5 notorious ship grounding incidents the Navy would rather we all forget

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/notorious-ship-grounding-incidents-involving-the-navy

Harold C. Hutchison
February 01, 2017

US Navy runs aground repeatly


Honda Point disaster 1923
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_disaster

The largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships



Navy Disaster - Ship Wreck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z80OsCKPtUI

US Navy disaster - destroyers aground on Point Honda
Location & time- Point Honda, California 8 September 1923.



Honda Point Disaster - Taking a Wrong Turn at Albuquerque
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTveGOZo1_g

Drachinifel

Today we look at the story of a slight navigation error off the California Coast

Quick Navigation overview at the start


User comment

Scott Havens 10 months ago

In case anyone wonders where California drivers got their training.. see pictures.
Being a survivor i can testify this still happens regular. Just now it's on a sea of asphalt.

[corsair91]

How Apollo Astronauts Didn't Get Lost Going to the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-O3Uu4DuLw


The Vintage Space
Jun 13, 2019
runtime 8:31

Space Sextant



The Vintage Space Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw95T_TgbGHhTml4xZ9yIqg

[corsair91]

The longitude problem: history's deadliest riddle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mHC-Pf8-dU

Jay Foreman
28 Jul 2021
runtime 9:15

[corsair91]

The Longitude Problem - Improving Navigation with the Harrison Clocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlRxWJ_kGEA

Drachinifel

A look at one of the most vexing problems to face mariners in the Age of Sail, working out your longitude, and how a carpenter with a fascination for clocks helped to solve the issue.


Drachinifel
https://www.youtube.com/@Drachinifel




Longitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awuwUalbiE

Steve Ragnall

"Finding the Longitude" - A fresh look at the story of John Harrison versus Nevil Maskelyne and of position fixing at sea.

Steve Ragnall
https://www.youtube.com/@steveragnall6249




Determine Longitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7yoXhbOQ3Y

ScienceOnline

This video demonstrates how to use observations of the sun combined with local and Greenwich time to determine longitude. An interesting project for anyone interested in navigation and the geometry of our relationship with the sun.

ScienceOnline
https://www.youtube.com/@ScienceOnline

[corsair91]

How to Find Latitude and Longitude without GPS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4W0D5FkN64

JAOM

Smple explanation of How to find Latitude and Longitude without GPS.


JAOM
https://www.youtube.com/@JAOM




National Geographic Latitude Longitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4zTbW7zk_4

Terance Winemiller

The complete story of earth navigation.


Terance Winemiller
https://www.youtube.com/@terancewinemiller4540




Did We Find Longitude Thanks To A...Clock?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-i-emUOTfk

SciShow

The equator is a clear and accurate line around Earth that makes measuring latitude a precise science, but when it came to figuring out how to do that with longitude, British sailors were at a loss.
Until they devised a competition.

Hosted by: Michael Aranda


SciShow
https://www.youtube.com/@SciShow

[Roland]