In longitude determination, a realm of endeavor where nothing had worked for centuries, suddenly two rival approaches of apparently equal merit ran neck and neck. Perfection of the two methods blazed parallel trails of development down the decades from the 1730s to the 1760s. Harrison, ever the loner, pursued his own quiet course through a maze of clockwork machinery, while his opponents, the professors of astronomy and mathematics, promised the moon to merchants, mariners, and Parliament.
