Papers of the Board of Longitude

Minutes of Board of Longitude meetings regarding, among other matters, the rates of various chronometers; C. Hutton's tables of products, powers and roots of natural numbers; the voyages of H.M.S. 'Resolution' and H.M.S. 'Discovery' and the examination of their log books; J. Arnold's improvements to his watches; a suitable site for the Board of Longitude's instruments after the burning of the cupola of the Greenwich Hospital where they had been kept; improvements to reflecting telescopes; the printing and publication of the observations and results obtained on Captain Cook's last voyage; R. Blair's method of adjusting J. Hadley's quadrant; the production of the 'Nautical Almanac'; experiments into the variations of compasses; lunar observations made in the East Indies; the instruction of the masters of the Royal Navy vessels in the use of the 'Nautical Almanac' and J. Hadley's quadrant; a method of finding longitude by the Moon's passage over the meridian; correspondence with the Marquis de Condorcet of the Académie des Sciences, Paris; instruments to be lent for the making of the astronomical observations at Botany Bay; the loan of a timekeeper to H.M.S. 'Sirius'; the observations made during the second voyage of H.M.S. 'Dolphin'; an atlas of the Spanish Mediterranean from the Royal Observatory at Cadiz; Grenier's improved pendulum; a paper from Dr Higgins on the making of glass suitable for acromatic telescopes; a letter from Captain W. Bligh regarding the loss of a chronometer after the mutiny on H.M.S. 'Bounty'; work on magnetism; the survey of the north-west coast of America to be carried out by H.M.S. 'Hecla' and H.M.S. 'Griper'; the purchase of an altitude and azimuth instrument; the method of obtaining latitude by observing two altitudes of the Sun and the interval of time between them, invented by J. Mendoza de Ríos; the invention of an artificial horizon by H. Ould; the trial of two watches by T. Earnshaw; the loan of a time-keeper to Lord Hood; T. Mudge's petition to the House of Commons for reward, relating to his work on the construction of chronometers; an invention by J. Martin to show the real motion of the Earth and the cause of tides; the appointment of J. Crosley as astronomical observer on expeditions to the north-west coast of America; a treatise on magnetism by R. Walker; a letter from Captain G. Vancouver on the observations obtained during his voyage to the north-west coast of America; the invention of an instrument by J. Leslie for detecting moisture in the atmosphere; an account of and details relating to the bankruptcy of the Board of Longitude's printer, C. Buckton; W. Dawes' observations in New South Wales; a deficiency of the Board's publications in the Library of the British Museum; the voyage of J. Crosley to Australia; and various bills and accounts with tradesmen, including printers, booksellers and clock- and chronometer-makers.

Indexed