The longitude problem: history's deadliest riddle

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  • čas přidán 27. 07. 2021
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Komentáře • 2,3K

  • @Aiterior
    @Aiterior Před 2 lety +7047

    I hope that one day you open by saying “we’re the map and here’s the men”

    • @Aostrele
      @Aostrele Před 2 lety +47

      Yes

    • @clipscompilations4442
      @clipscompilations4442 Před 2 lety +451

      Or We’re the men, but where’s the map?

    • @alexj1295
      @alexj1295 Před 2 lety +5

      Yes

    • @Leron...
      @Leron... Před 2 lety +188

      @@clipscompilations4442 The real map was the friendships they made along the way...

    • @kriijan3747
      @kriijan3747 Před 2 lety +197

      Men map, men map, men men, men map map.

  • @aidanfarmer2045
    @aidanfarmer2045 Před 2 lety +4915

    That Tiktok joke was utterly rancid and I love it

    • @markcooper-jones7494
      @markcooper-jones7494 Před 2 lety +575

      It was wasn't it? It was Jay's - I hated it as much as I loved it.

    • @snsayy
      @snsayy Před 2 lety +9

      XD best joke ever

    • @andreilin113
      @andreilin113 Před 2 lety +50

      @@markcooper-jones7494 are you- wait...

    • @ieatcatpisslololololol1441
      @ieatcatpisslololololol1441 Před 2 lety +27

      @@markcooper-jones7494 i assume that he’s forcing you to say this , so we can just say that you hated it

    • @olegbbbuu
      @olegbbbuu Před 2 lety +2

      I dunno why but I thought of tic tac at first

  • @DYWYPI
    @DYWYPI Před 2 lety +1633

    "Died on the same day he was born" sounds a lot more poetic and noble and exciting than "died on his birthday".

    • @wholeNwon
      @wholeNwon Před 2 lety +43

      Well, neonatal mortality was quite high in those days.

    • @distinctloafer
      @distinctloafer Před 2 lety +6

      That's an englishmen for you.

    • @wholeNwon
      @wholeNwon Před 2 lety +5

      @@distinctloafer -man

    • @ulfberht4431
      @ulfberht4431 Před rokem +1

      Or simply, “poetic irony!”

    • @THTB_lol
      @THTB_lol Před rokem +4

      i mean it is the correct phrase because of the switch from the julian to gregorian calendar

  • @ClockworksOfGL
    @ClockworksOfGL Před 2 lety +5675

    Clock repairer here: It’s difficult to comprehend John Harrison’s brilliance, especially since he came from a humble family of bell hangers. He developed the caged ball bearing and the bimetallic spring, inventions we all use all day, every day. He also created the gridiron pendulum (which compensates for temperature fluctuations) and the grasshopper escapement (which requires no oil). Harrison’s “wooden” clocks used a hard, self-lubricating wood called “lingum vitae” on the bearing surfaces. The old (paraphrased) saying “Show me the perfect bearing and I’ll build you the perfect clock” was especially true in the 1700s, when oils were terrible at best. Just by doing this, he got around the problem of lubrication, at least one of his timepieces has been running without a drop of oil since it was made. I spend my days dealing with oil and consequences of bad oil. If you don’t lube your clock every few years, it will wear our. Using synthetic oil buys extra time, but it’s still a maintenance item. Most folks don’t do this, so now they’re looking at cleaning, pivot polishing and bushings and all that jazz. If Harrison’s designs really took off, I’d be out of a job, maybe I should be thankful his genius was ignored. He’s right up there with Stephenson and Brunel, maybe even Newton.

    • @ZekeGraal
      @ZekeGraal Před 2 lety +63

      We deal with oiling issues on typewriters as well. Chief among which are: previous owners who believe that WD40 is a lubricant first and foremost. Oh yes, it will work for a bit, and then gum up everything. Something I'm sure you are well aware of! Thankfully, the clock-springs and escapements are usually pretty robust on typewriters, thanks mostly to the fact that they don't have to be as precise as those in a timepiece!

    • @ALifeOfWine
      @ALifeOfWine Před 2 lety +150

      So what you're telling me is I should start up a wooden watch making company?

    • @AllonsyRapunzel
      @AllonsyRapunzel Před 2 lety +304

      Bellringer here: It makes so much sense that he has bell hanging roots! What is almost always in a church tower other than bells? Clocks! He must have seen a variety of clocks from an early age and part of the job sometimes would be connecting the bells to the clock if it had a strike train. Often the church would have the only clock in the village. I've learnt quite a bit about clocks just by being in a church tower all my life.

    • @AllonsyRapunzel
      @AllonsyRapunzel Před 2 lety +126

      Also makes sense that he invented ball bearings. Plain bearings are awful to ring on and require a lot of maintenance. We often ring for 3 hours non stop. On plain bearings, this means it all gets considerably tougher the longer you ring!

    • @ClockworksOfGL
      @ClockworksOfGL Před 2 lety +85

      @@AllonsyRapunzel - Plain bearings are fine if they’re maintained, but they never are. That’s why they’re banned from railroads. All it takes is one maintenance slip-up and then you have an axle fire or even worse.

  • @PopeLando
    @PopeLando Před 2 lety +4913

    Although John Harrison died on the same calendar date that he was born, he was born under the Julian calendar and died under the Gregorian, so technically 11 days short of 83 years old when he died.

    • @SpiceLettuce
      @SpiceLettuce Před 2 lety +620

      Yeah but it’s cooler to say he died on the same day he was born so just ignore that

    • @hosephanerothe1440
      @hosephanerothe1440 Před 2 lety +262

      *shuffles under carpet*

    • @RupeeRhod
      @RupeeRhod Před 2 lety +645

      So what you say is he accounted for the change to still land on the same day, even if a full 83 years hadn't elapsed.
      What a mad man.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Před 2 lety +153

      He accounted for the difference in time zones.

    • @bakedbeanishdragon
      @bakedbeanishdragon Před 2 lety +31

      Boooooooo *throws tomatoes*

  • @Julio974
    @Julio974 Před 2 lety +3663

    Now we’re expecting the intros to be weird, so you should do a perfectly classic intro next time just to mess with us

    • @JayForeman
      @JayForeman  Před 2 lety +1603

      Way ahead of you!

    • @steveb9542
      @steveb9542 Před 2 lety +85

      Eh they kinda already did that, at least as far as the theme tune is concerned.

    • @imveryangryitsnotbutter
      @imveryangryitsnotbutter Před 2 lety +332

      @@JayForeman Separate the instrumental and the vocals. Play only the instrumental during the intro. Later at a random point in the video, insert the vocals.

    • @Deathhead68
      @Deathhead68 Před 2 lety +37

      @@JayForeman I like it when you do 'map men' theme with lots of extra maps and mens

    • @emiliorescigno
      @emiliorescigno Před 2 lety +60

      Men Map Men Map Men Men Men Map
      Map

  • @TheNathRob
    @TheNathRob Před 2 lety +698

    Sounds like Shovell dug his own grave...

    • @christianalbertjahns2577
      @christianalbertjahns2577 Před 2 lety +4

      Your comment is very brilliant

    • @Loreman72
      @Loreman72 Před 2 lety +2

      Oh, shut up! 😄

    • @WillsRailfanning
      @WillsRailfanning Před 2 lety +2

      This needs more likes

    • @gilroymenezes1558
      @gilroymenezes1558 Před rokem +3

      Ba dum tss

    • @OleeveeyaChakraborty
      @OleeveeyaChakraborty Před měsícem

      @@gilroymenezes1558 Oh my god, CZcams's translator wants to translate your comment which is already written in English, to English and say "Ba stupid tss". The translated comment goes to Translator...brave idea translator!

  • @joshuarosen6242
    @joshuarosen6242 Před 2 lety +2346

    For anyone who is interested, £20,000 in 1714 is almost exactly £4m today. Also, Longitude is a very interesting book.

    • @epicjoyfulcreations4580
      @epicjoyfulcreations4580 Před 2 lety +84

      £3,994,609.36 to be exact. Or $5,498,575.79 in USD. Or $6,941,319.60 in CAD.

    • @karu6111
      @karu6111 Před 2 lety +41

      jesus, that joke had me legit bursting in laughter

    • @_Ekaros
      @_Ekaros Před 2 lety +24

      @@epicjoyfulcreations4580 A bit more time and it's exactly 4 million pounds...

    • @kcgunesq
      @kcgunesq Před 2 lety +52

      Of course, wages don't really convert simply by adjusting for inflation. In the mid-1700s, in London, skilled tradesman would have likely made around 1 pound sterling a week. So 20,000 pounds was 400 years wages for a skilled tradesman, which would convert to about $24,000,000.
      Put another way, HMS Victory cost around 60,000 pounds sterling and it was a flagship naval vessel.

    • @MrCookie710
      @MrCookie710 Před 2 lety +4

      @@epicjoyfulcreations4580 Whats that in € ? :P

  • @MedlifeCrisis
    @MedlifeCrisis Před 2 lety +7306

    There's a wonderful TV mini series with Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon called 'Longitude'. Sadly only a low res version is available on CZcams but you can buy it for less than £20,000+inflation. Highly recommended!

    • @Pope_Balenciaga
      @Pope_Balenciaga Před 2 lety +114

      @TommyInnit 🅥 thanks buddy

    • @JayForeman
      @JayForeman  Před 2 lety +1769

      Stephen Fry's performance as the man promoting the stabbed dog method is hilarous!

    • @smeetsnoud1
      @smeetsnoud1 Před 2 lety +27

      @TommyInnit 🅥 just an absolute Chad, doing an absolutely Chad thing

    • @thanksfernuthin
      @thanksfernuthin Před 2 lety +10

      I concur. It's a great story expertly told.

    • @zawadulhoque4511
      @zawadulhoque4511 Před 2 lety +18

      @@ullasjoseph4502 what link

  • @pittofdoom
    @pittofdoom Před 2 lety +728

    That “moving the goalposts” joke was top-notch.

    • @Neonthon
      @Neonthon Před 2 lety +7

      I'm lost, care to explain?

    • @Hand-in-Shot_Productions
      @Hand-in-Shot_Productions Před 2 lety +4

      Watched that part a second time, and I found that quite funny too!

    • @SenoraCardgage
      @SenoraCardgage Před 2 lety +8

      Thanks for the explanation, I couldn’t figure out what in the heck that part was about!

    • @lukedaniel7669
      @lukedaniel7669 Před 2 lety +5

      Agreed, though Maskelin (sp?) is not really the baddie the Longitude book makes him out to be. Although Harrison's chronometers were extremely accurate they were expensive and tricky to use on a pitching ship. Maskelin's tables were accurate enough, could be published cheaply decades in advance and were usable by anyone who could read.

    • @ribbonsofnight
      @ribbonsofnight Před 2 lety

      @@lukedaniel7669 I don't see how any accusation of difficulty of using something on a pitching ship isn't true of Maskelin's idea. I don't see how a method of lunar observation could be made foolproof either.

  • @vladsnape6408
    @vladsnape6408 Před 2 lety +230

    In regard to the sailor that tried to warn Admiral Shovell, Wikipedia says "While it is possible that a sailor may have debated the vessel's location and feared for its fate, such debates were common upon entering the English Channel, as noted by Samuel Pepys in 1684. Naval historians have repeatedly discredited the story, noting the lack of any evidence in contemporary documents, its fanciful stock conventions and dubious origins.However, the myth was revived in 1997 when author Dava Sobel presented it as an unqualified truth in her book Longitude."

    • @lutzderlurch7877
      @lutzderlurch7877 Před rokem +6

      Thank you

    • @HolySoliDeoGloria
      @HolySoliDeoGloria Před 10 měsíci +5

      Thank you! Ugh, will everyone please stop propagating this slanderous myth?!?!

    • @flitsertheo
      @flitsertheo Před 9 měsíci +15

      Would there have been enough time for a hanging between the sailor reporting his findings and the ships crashing into the rocks ? As an "on the spot" hanging would have been very unusual for the British navy, there would have been a short trial first, then the "ceremony" of the hanging. All taking time.

    • @ArakkoaChronicles
      @ArakkoaChronicles Před 8 měsíci +10

      As entertaining as Map Men videos are, I see these comments - or check the facts myself - and often find them to be a complete fabrication. It really makes me put the whole channel in serious doubt. This video might just be the straw that broke the camel's back.

    • @wotireckon
      @wotireckon Před 5 měsíci

      Maybe so, but the story adds controversy and humour; and we all know that that's much more interesting than mere facts.

  • @sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957

    Navy sailor here: On the plus side, with digital engine readouts for speed and digital (read: inertial) compasses, dead reckoning is WAY more accurate than when this was done with a knotted rope and a shoddy magnetic compass. Navigating on an ever shifting seemingly-infinite flat-on-a-good-day featureless non-euclidean plane is always going to be a problem, complicated by drift but if GPS fails, we can still get a rough sense of where we are. This is something we had to practice, like kinda all the time. They'd make us compare our dead reckoning track on the chart with the quartermaster's astronomically-ascertained position every half hour and I could typically get us within a few miles.

    • @gamemeister27
      @gamemeister27 Před 2 lety +4

      Which Navy?

    • @sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957
      @sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957 Před 2 lety +14

      @@gamemeister27 US Navy!

    • @doctorkilombo1406
      @doctorkilombo1406 Před 2 lety +16

      ... and doing dead reckoning (or astronomic navigation) is always a good hobby if you are bored while sailing (the intellectual part of my brain loves the challenge)

    • @HypocrisyLaidBare
      @HypocrisyLaidBare Před rokem

      Is there any other kind of sailor then? Because I thought all sailors were navy, either military or civilian
      Military is HMS, US, CHMS, AHMS, RDN,
      Or civilian
      Merchant Navy, SS, RMS
      My point is they are ALL navy sailors so why say NAVY sailor?
      Is there a AIRLINE sailor?
      If you meant your nation military then specify it as Royal, US Canadian, Dutch, French Navy which would negate 1, the need to say "sailor" and 2, clear up what branch of "NAVY" you are referring too.

    • @gamemeister27
      @gamemeister27 Před rokem +25

      @@HypocrisyLaidBare don't be a pedant

  • @yuvalne
    @yuvalne Před 2 lety +804

    "Which in today's money is £20000 plus inflation"
    That's why I love this series

    • @adsasori
      @adsasori Před 2 lety +11

      It's worth like 4.5 million pounds

    • @takers786
      @takers786 Před 2 lety +6

      @@adsasori close, it’s £3,994,609.36 according to the Bank of England website

    • @adsasori
      @adsasori Před 2 lety +5

      @@takers786 different sites different measurements yours probably right

    • @matt-66
      @matt-66 Před 2 lety

      I think "20000 times inflation" would have been a little more accurate

  • @acasualcactus5878
    @acasualcactus5878 Před 2 lety +325

    Sir Cloudsey Shovell sounds like the name of a villain in a children’s program.

    • @martonkormendy6150
      @martonkormendy6150 Před 2 lety +2

      There's actually a band with that name, too

    • @blitzy99
      @blitzy99 Před 2 lety +2

      You're close, the villain would actually be Shovelly McShovellface.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Před 2 lety

      Looks like one, too.

    • @timothymclean
      @timothymclean Před 2 lety +1

      Or Shovel Knight's evil sky pirate cousin.

    • @grantbmilburn
      @grantbmilburn Před 2 lety +1

      The name was the inspiration for Clodsley Shovel, a talking gardening mole in the Chronicles of Narnia.

  • @YouTube
    @YouTube Před 2 lety +1503

    So many history lessons learnt through these videos, with an extra sprinkle of wit and humour 📗 😂

    • @conanichigawa
      @conanichigawa Před 2 lety +93

      Wow. A CZcams account commenting on a CZcams video.

    • @EmrecanOksum
      @EmrecanOksum Před 2 lety +83

      Hi CZcams, glad to see you on such quality content.

    • @MrRussianDollOfficial
      @MrRussianDollOfficial Před 2 lety +267

      This comment has tarnished the reputation of Jay Foreman's channel

    • @stefanfranke5651
      @stefanfranke5651 Před 2 lety +92

      Hey CZcams, please stop these awfull mobile game ads!!!

    • @EVILBUNNY28
      @EVILBUNNY28 Před 2 lety +4

      @@conanichigawa I’ve seen it a couple times before

  • @amazing_svp_all
    @amazing_svp_all Před 2 lety +37

    “Can I have a go at your hammer”
    “Bang bang bang bang bang bang”
    I laughed so hard...

  • @vaclav_fejt
    @vaclav_fejt Před 2 lety +657

    I hope "End of the Movie" will be on Jay's upcoming "Songs that Sound Like but Aren't the Beatles' Songs Album" album.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Před 2 lety +55

      He is very good at writing songs that sound like but aren't the Beatles' songs, isn't he?

    • @JayForeman
      @JayForeman  Před 2 lety +111

      czcams.com/video/wiX8SmqYWyI/video.html

    • @Xatzimi
      @Xatzimi Před 2 lety +50

      @@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Hell, he even looks like a Beatle that isn't a Beatle

    • @blurds
      @blurds Před 2 lety +2

      Will it beeee, will it be, will it beee, will it beee.

    • @MolloyPolloy
      @MolloyPolloy Před 2 lety +6

      @@blurds Come back, Elaine Rugby, id like to shake your hand, yellow subway sandwich.... all the classics.

  • @awesomefajitas
    @awesomefajitas Před 2 lety +827

    when I was around 10 or so, I went to your “songs for rotten kids” show in edinburgh, and bought both cds and listened to them on repeat. about 3 years ago i discovered your youtube channel. I am now 17, and hearing “end of the movie” at the end of this video brought back a wave of memories. Thank you Jay Foreman

    • @Nooticus
      @Nooticus Před 2 lety +15

      Awesome story :)

    • @nob2243
      @nob2243 Před 2 lety +29

      @@nainatalwar8050 How about no

  • @realnoahsimpson
    @realnoahsimpson Před 2 lety +33

    the TikTok reference at 4:00 is 1 of the most hilarious and genius things I’ve ever seen!

  • @colinpovey2904
    @colinpovey2904 Před 2 lety +75

    H1, H2, H3 and H4 are all at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, in the eastern outskirts of London. H1, H2, and H3 are all kept running, and show amazing precision. H4 does not run, as it depends upon oil for lubrication, so every tick wears it out just a little bit.
    The book by Dava Sobel is beyond good, it is a superb story.

  • @5thearth
    @5thearth Před 2 lety +824

    The problem of longitude would eventually contribute to Charles Babbage's Difference Engine, the precursor to modern computers. Longitude by lunar observation required the use of tables of logarithms, which were calculated and typeset by hand, making them prone to potentially dangerous errors. The Difference Engine (as designed) would not only calculate the tables perfectly, it also had an attached machine for turning those results directly into printing plates, eliminating all sources of human error.

    • @AgentAileron
      @AgentAileron Před 2 lety +4

      An attached what? We need to know!

    • @jeremylakeman
      @jeremylakeman Před 2 lety +28

      @@AgentAileron Babbage never built it, but one has now been made from his design czcams.com/video/BlbQsKpq3Ak/video.html

    • @AgentAileron
      @AgentAileron Před 2 lety +4

      Ooo, that's cool
      Cheers for sharing

    • @chrismorris294
      @chrismorris294 Před 2 lety +1

      Good cut and paste job but not really relevant to determining longitude....

    • @midshipman8654
      @midshipman8654 Před 2 lety

      really interesting!

  • @dillonbuffington303
    @dillonbuffington303 Před 2 lety +377

    That child spinning the clock and saying "weeee!" really is art. It should be in a museum.

  • @RichardMaw
    @RichardMaw Před 2 lety +20

    6:22 best joke.

  • @mohamedak2648
    @mohamedak2648 Před 2 lety +162

    Oh no! Nevil Maskelyne slander!
    This episode deserves a follow up in the style of "Extra History: Lies" because Dava Sobel's book is very, very unfair to Nevil Maskelyne.
    1. The lunar distance method supported by Maskelyne worked and is the basis for The Nautical Almanac, which is still published to this day.
    2. Maskelyne never submitted a method to try and win the prize, but did support awarding a partial prize to Tobias Mayer for his calculation of lunar tables.
    3. The sextant is still used to this day to calculate longitude using lunar distance, in case electronic timekeepers fail.
    4. Maskelyne was not against timekeepers. He supported the watchmaker John Arnold in developing a copy of Harrison's H4 that could be produced in large quantities at a cheaper cost, to support the Admiralty.
    (John Arnold did better than a copy, he added innovations of his own design that simplified the H4 to make it cheaper and easier to produce, and make it more accurate.)

    • @dominateeye
      @dominateeye Před 2 lety +15

      Ah, but was he against _Yorkshiremen?_

    • @MasonGreenWeed
      @MasonGreenWeed Před 2 lety +1

      @@dominateeye they're Yorkshireman

    • @qwertyTRiG
      @qwertyTRiG Před 2 lety +5

      Arnold also made the time lady's watch. Both Citation Needed and Futility Closet have good episodes about her.

    • @tooleyheadbang4239
      @tooleyheadbang4239 Před rokem +2

      Nevil Maskelyne was at his best when he collaborated with David Devant.
      I have the book they jointly wrote, "Our Magic".

    • @mohamedak2648
      @mohamedak2648 Před rokem +1

      @@tooleyheadbang4239 Interesting man, but I am speaking about a different Maskelyne.

  • @Spencer481
    @Spencer481 Před 2 lety +209

    I've read the Story of Shovell hanging a sailer who questioned his navigation skills was actually made up in the 19th century, coming from a local Scilly myth that came about a couple of years after the disaster that a Native sailor to the Isles was punished for saying he recognized the waters but was instead ignored and punished but not hanged. All 800 hands and Shovell were lost when ship HMS Association sank quickly after running aground, no contemporary record of any such sailor existing or being punished or hanged exist.
    Edit: grammer

    • @skullsaintdead
      @skullsaintdead Před 2 lety +4

      Interesting, though strangely you've used the wrong grammar which amused me. That theory would make sense too though.

    • @Spencer481
      @Spencer481 Před 2 lety +4

      No one dare like this, 69 likes forever pls

    • @flamencoprof
      @flamencoprof Před 2 lety +7

      It stands to reason that if all hands were lost there was nobody to relate the story. Liked, so there.

    • @iain3482
      @iain3482 Před 2 lety +7

      Also, they struck rocks not because they didn't know the longitude, but because they got the latitude wrong. They were further north than they should have been to safely sail into the Channel.

    • @yamyrm3687
      @yamyrm3687 Před 2 lety +4

      Ironically it’s spelled grammar not grammer

  • @goodlookingcorpse
    @goodlookingcorpse Před 2 lety +77

    1:24 This is the origin of the famous quote "Let us not go there--it is a Scilly place".

    • @kellywelz5398
      @kellywelz5398 Před 2 lety +2

      Where the sailors coming back from a quest for the Grail?

    • @mattbartley2843
      @mattbartley2843 Před 2 lety +2

      It's just a model!
      Shhhhh!

    • @plumjet0930
      @plumjet0930 Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@kellywelz5398Yes, unfortunately they were stopped by French soldiers and the police

  • @gdclemo
    @gdclemo Před 2 lety +35

    Maskelyne might be the villain here but the story of the Schiehallion experiment when he weighed a mountain in Scotland, then used that to weigh the Earth, is fascinating... they also invented contour lines in the process, so it's sort of map related.

  • @saiyajedi
    @saiyajedi Před 2 lety +87

    Having the part of Adm. Shovell played by an actual shovel with googly eyes and a bicorne hat was a stroke of genius.

    • @kashiichan
      @kashiichan Před 2 lety +6

      "Yes, Cloudesley Shovel was his real name. No, he wasn't really a shovel with googly eyes."

  • @ArtemyMusha
    @ArtemyMusha Před 2 lety +148

    Ooh, Encarta. Now that's a name I have not heard in a long, long time.

    • @hebl47
      @hebl47 Před 2 lety +5

      Wow, we think alike, lol. And you beat me by a couple of minutes.

    • @imveryangryitsnotbutter
      @imveryangryitsnotbutter Před 2 lety +9

      Ah yes, the Wikipedia before Wikipedia existed.

    • @gimmetreefiddy891
      @gimmetreefiddy891 Před 2 lety +1

      Of all the content in the video, this too was the one I was going to comment about.

  • @johnf.kennedy343
    @johnf.kennedy343 Před 2 lety +37

    2:08 If anybody is wondering how much that money would be now, it would be £3,994,609 or $5,554,503

  • @SacsachCCABP
    @SacsachCCABP Před 2 lety +6

    “He died the same date he was born” might sound like a lot, until you say “he died on his birthday”

  • @4thalt
    @4thalt Před 2 měsíci +2

    3:59 Besides the TikTok reference, I loved the little thing about how when you draw a clock and you put too much space between the numbers early on so you have to pack in the last numbers.

  • @frankhan8993
    @frankhan8993 Před 2 lety +199

    I'm calling my clock "chronometer" from now

    • @bertrach
      @bertrach Před 2 lety +7

      I call mine Chronopeter. :P

    • @090giver090
      @090giver090 Před 2 lety +4

      You can't unless COSC allows you to :Е

    • @BadWebDiver
      @BadWebDiver Před 2 lety +6

      But that only works if the clock is made in regional France. Otherwise it's just a "sparkling timepiece".

    • @nainatalwar8050
      @nainatalwar8050 Před 2 lety

      🟡 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES JOURNALISTIC CONTENT LIKE JAY ON U-TUBE🟡

    • @SeanMacadelic
      @SeanMacadelic Před 2 lety

      All watches/clocks are chronometers

  • @joreck
    @joreck Před 2 lety +160

    am a watchmaking apprentice. the precision of watches used for navigation is insane.
    it is disappointing that there is no more demand for them though - mechanical watches are still popular, but some complications just aren't really needed anymore.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 Před 2 lety +1

      Hasnt GPS moved due to variations in earths wobble etc ?

    • @christofferhjelte
      @christofferhjelte Před 2 lety +1

      A quartz wristwatch doesnt do the trick?

    • @mattbartley2843
      @mattbartley2843 Před 2 lety +9

      @@christofferhjelte Depends on which one.
      The watch that I had that broke down on me recently, ran fast by about 1 second per day.
      The watch I've used since has drifted by only about 10 seconds in the past 2 months.
      They all are temperature sensitive unless held at constant (hot) temperature: oven controlled crystal oscillator. Typically 75 Celsius. I doubt any wristwatches actually do that.

    • @JonatasAdoM
      @JonatasAdoM Před 2 lety +1

      @@mattbartley2843 And most qartz watches are Chinese, so you can't even tell if they're actu ally quartz.

    • @tylisirn
      @tylisirn Před 2 lety +4

      @@JonatasAdoM If it's cheap, it's definitely quartz, because it's actually cheaper than alternatives. Non quartz watches require more components in their movements, so they start at a higher price.

  • @qingyangzhang6093
    @qingyangzhang6093 Před 2 lety +123

    In Maskelyne's defense, he did develop a cheaper method that worked for less demanding circumstances (using only a sextant rather than a £300+inflation watch), albeit not as accurate as Harrison's.
    And he was the first person to measure the mass of the earth accurately!

    • @anabsolutemess8850
      @anabsolutemess8850 Před 2 lety +6

      Actually, in 240 BCE Eratosthenes had done the same, albeit slightly less accurately

    • @Qmeister044
      @Qmeister044 Před 2 lety +9

      @@anabsolutemess8850 As far as I can find, Eratosthenes measured and calculated the circumference of the Earth, not its mass.

    • @eliparker7151
      @eliparker7151 Před 2 lety +1

      @@anabsolutemess8850 Didn't Eratosthenes measure Earth's circumference, not mass? Or did he do both?

    • @sydhenderson6753
      @sydhenderson6753 Před 11 měsíci

      More accurately than Henry Cavendish?

    • @beardedchimp
      @beardedchimp Před 8 měsíci

      @@sydhenderson6753 from what I remember Cavendish came decades later giving a far more accurate figure and advanced physics in a myriad of other ways. However it was the earlier experiment that first provided a reasonably accurate Earth mass.

  • @paulquincey
    @paulquincey Před 10 měsíci +8

    When Captain Cook navigated his way to Tahiti for the Transit of Venus in 1769, he used lunar tables prepared by Nevil Maskelyne, and he didn’t have a chronometer. So the ‘lunar distance’ method worked well, to the extent that £3,300 was paid to the people who developed it at the same time as Harrison was promised his £20,000. Unfortunately Dava Sobel treated Maskelyne as a pantomime villain because it made a good story.

  • @LifeinJars
    @LifeinJars Před 2 lety +82

    £20.000+inflation would be around £3.400.000 now.
    Or about $4.700.000 or €4.000.000

  • @napoleonibonaparte7198
    @napoleonibonaparte7198 Před 2 lety +165

    Men Map however, is an 1800’s version of Grindr.
    “We’re the map, and here’s the men!”

  • @thatguyfromak5190
    @thatguyfromak5190 Před 2 lety +2

    This might be my favorite informative series on CZcams. The time between each upload just means quality is guaranteed every single time. Love what ya do from Alaska!

  • @Hollywood2021
    @Hollywood2021 Před 2 lety +10

    I am so proud to have come from a long line of seamen...those early days of exploration must have been long and hard

  • @ldlq804
    @ldlq804 Před 2 lety +62

    All of you talking about the tik tok joke but is anyone going to talk how 3:46 is the cutest thing ever.

    • @Zeem4
      @Zeem4 Před 2 lety +5

      Yes, it's the cutest thing ever. I only scrolled down to comment section to see if anyone else had noticed, or if it was just me.

    • @SOS_JA
      @SOS_JA Před 2 lety +1

      But were did he get it.....

    • @pengiunanimatorguy1707
      @pengiunanimatorguy1707 Před 5 měsíci +1

      3:49 wEEEEEeee
      Absolutely adorable

  • @cristianrobertradulescu5690

    I work at the Royal Observatory! So happy that you got to talk about the chronometers that reside within it!

    • @stefanfranke5651
      @stefanfranke5651 Před 2 lety +6

      So give them back already! You spilled enough tea over them. :(

    • @nainatalwar8050
      @nainatalwar8050 Před 2 lety

      ⚾ SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES JOURNALISTIC CONTENT LIKE JAY ON U-TUBE⚾

  • @HypocrisyLaidBare
    @HypocrisyLaidBare Před rokem +4

    I don't see anyone pointing out to you guys *_Map Men_***, that at **0:15** that is *NOT* a picture/drawing/illustration of a clock.
    It is in fact a *Watch* more specifically, a turn of the century (20th) gentleman's pocket watch.
    As is evident by the watch chain hoop at the tip of the watch and face cover (lid) hinge to the left of the watch face (9 o'clock position).
    All that being said please continue gentlemen!

    • @amaureaLua
      @amaureaLua Před 13 dny

      All watches are clocks, though. "My good sir, this is NOT an animal! It's an elephant! You can tell from the trunk, big ears and overall hugeness!"

  • @stensoft
    @stensoft Před 2 lety +10

    4:07 And then there is my microwave with a digital clock that drifts by half an hour a day. Clearly designed for boats and not stationary houses.

  • @sypialnia_studio
    @sypialnia_studio Před 2 lety +57

    This channel shoud get the no. 1 prize in british humor competition. Delightful to learn from such witty storytellers.

  • @bob_the_bomb4508
    @bob_the_bomb4508 Před 2 lety +208

    Ironically, ‘sympathy dog’ predicted ‘quantum entanglement’ by some 300 years…

    • @somebonehead
      @somebonehead Před 2 lety +14

      Lol, humanity really is just a hivemind, we're rediscovering secrets of the universe we've known for hundreds or thousands of years. /j

    • @knarf_inc4790
      @knarf_inc4790 Před 2 lety +15

      And a cat may or may have not been killed in the process.

    • @General12th
      @General12th Před 2 lety +9

      They're nothing alike. And quantum entanglement can't be used to transmit information.

    • @bob_the_bomb4508
      @bob_the_bomb4508 Před 2 lety +34

      @@General12th nor can a sticking plaster on a dog :)

    • @General12th
      @General12th Před 2 lety +20

      @@bob_the_bomb4508 Actually, that's a fair point.

  • @airstrike9002
    @airstrike9002 Před 2 lety +10

    3:15 eh, nowadays you have people who believe that some stones have magical abilities, believe that the earth is flat, and believe in astrology. The concept of dog wifi doesn't even faze me anymore.

  • @mmmk1616
    @mmmk1616 Před 2 lety +2

    I love your videos! I almost always watch a second time so I can pause on the funny bits that pop up too fast for me to read. Thanks for making these! :)

  • @MrInsomniac19
    @MrInsomniac19 Před 2 lety +66

    And a little over 200 years after his death his watch made it way to 2 brothers in Peckham who when they sold it at auction became millionaires

    • @Momo_1412
      @Momo_1412 Před 2 lety +5

      Haha was hoping for this in the video

    • @hairyairey
      @hairyairey Před 2 lety +3

      @@Momo_1412 Would be amazing if H6 ever did show up. No mention of H5 in the video either.

  • @igorcalixtodasilva56
    @igorcalixtodasilva56 Před 2 lety +32

    I'm waiting for the day they'll say "We're the map, and here's the man", an then they just show a completely unrelated person.

  • @mhkpt
    @mhkpt Před 2 lety +1

    Loved the video and how often you made us pause to fully take in one of the little details you added. You guys are amazing.

  • @RalucaBojor
    @RalucaBojor Před 2 lety +2

    I absolutely love your sense of humor! Congrats on this awesome docu-series! Keep up the good work!

  • @alimaboobakuru1503
    @alimaboobakuru1503 Před 2 lety +463

    Some day I'll be mature enough to not laugh at "seamen"

    • @wendimunson844
      @wendimunson844 Před 2 lety +29

      I as well. But today is not that day

    • @xeviphract5894
      @xeviphract5894 Před 2 lety +23

      I laughed at "Shovell," so imagine MY level of maturity.

    • @Zraknul
      @Zraknul Před 2 lety +8

      Tip: dont become that mature.

    • @stefanfranke5651
      @stefanfranke5651 Před 2 lety +9

      You will eventually.
      But only to the day, your're right in the act of making your first child with your wife, you will remember Jay's face saying "navigating seamen".
      Happy to help!

    • @jamesknapp64
      @jamesknapp64 Před 2 lety +4

      Never gonna happen

  • @heathallanson
    @heathallanson Před 2 lety +64

    I think my heart stopped when the Map Men theme did.

  • @Colbasaurus23
    @Colbasaurus23 Před 2 lety +8

    Honestly some of the best humorous whilst factual writing on the platform! **moves goalposts**

  • @sarcasmo57
    @sarcasmo57 Před 2 lety +3

    My local Blockbuster had Surf Shark.

  • @jansenart0
    @jansenart0 Před 2 lety +48

    1:30 Dava Sobel in Longitude should not have reprinted the myth of Shovell having a man hanged. There's never been any evidence of such a thing, and it likely grossly mutated from a story about a sailor local to the Scilly Isles recognizing the shallows and trying to warn leadership but being rebuked.

  • @jasperschannel4976
    @jasperschannel4976 Před 2 lety +29

    you guys have mastered the art of sponsored segments

    • @mattbartley2843
      @mattbartley2843 Před 2 lety

      Indeed, that was one of the only ones I've actually wanted to watch through.

  • @boo453
    @boo453 Před 2 lety +10

    You forgot the story of Harrison's 6th watch which was found by 2 market traders in the mid 90s and sold at auction for £6.2mil

  • @thuecl
    @thuecl Před 2 lety +7

    Love the video, but as a Dane I have to point out, that none of the gentlemen Galileo, Newton, Halley or Cassini found the speed of light. Though Galileo tried, all his attempts failed. The first to measure the speed of light - or as he called it (translated from Danish) "the hesitation of light - was the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer in 1676.
    In the book "Opticks" published in 1704 Newton reported about Rømers calculations. But Rømer was the first.
    :-)

  • @milkloverenterprises3367
    @milkloverenterprises3367 Před 2 lety +25

    “Seamen”
    Ah yes, what else would I think besides that?

  • @stopthenames
    @stopthenames Před 2 lety +57

    Next week: "How to tell the time of day with a map"

    • @Alphacron
      @Alphacron Před 2 lety +7

      All you have to do is know what time it is in Greenwich, then look at your map and see how many timezones forward or behind you are, and boom! Now you know what time it is!*
      *Unless you're trying to find the time in Greenwich.

    • @dfross87
      @dfross87 Před 2 lety +4

      @@Alphacron A trivial problem. Find out the time where you are, then check a map to work out which time zone you're in and voila! You can calculate the time in Greenwich.

  • @zephyrandboreas
    @zephyrandboreas Před 2 lety +22

    John Harrison has been for a long time one of my science heroes. And I find interesting that it was his experience as a maker of wooden clocks that allowed him in the end to being able to create a chronograph that worked in all kinds of whether, because of his knowledge that certain types of wood have natural oils and so his wooden clocks were self-lubricating. And so need for using other oils that created a lot of gunk and where the variation in wood properties, if not lubricated, would affect the accuracy of those clocks. That serendipitous knowledge put him on the right path to solve a key issue to develop a clock that worked at sea and in all kinds of whether.

    • @lutzderlurch7877
      @lutzderlurch7877 Před rokem

      His H4 did not use wood, though and required lubrication

  • @michaelmcdermott4385
    @michaelmcdermott4385 Před 2 lety +7

    Thank you for doing an episode on this. I wrote a report on "The Longitude Problem" in 8th grade, and why it was so important. No one knew what the hell I was talking about

  • @SmoothOperator739
    @SmoothOperator739 Před 2 lety +41

    “Can I have a go on your hammer? Bang bang bang bang bang.”
    - King George III

  • @harrytodhunter5078
    @harrytodhunter5078 Před 2 lety +43

    The thing about Shovell hanging a sailor for trying to correct his navigation is just a myth unfortunately

  • @MxCorvid
    @MxCorvid Před 2 lety

    Your caption formatting is beautiful. Also everything else about this video too

  • @johnforrestboone1
    @johnforrestboone1 Před 2 lety

    i get soo excited every time a new vid of you guys show up. love your content

  • @fyllingenoy131
    @fyllingenoy131 Před 2 lety +28

    One thing though; the story of a sailor being hanged for pointing out to Admiral Shovell that they were about to hit the rocks off Scilly is a myth.

  • @jxh02
    @jxh02 Před 2 lety +311

    For Americans, replace "Yorkshireman" with "hillbilly" and you'll begin to grasp why the Astronomer Royal et al hated Harrison so much, and figured his clock must be crap. I saw a re-enactment at the Greenwich Royal Observatory and Harrison's accent instantly clued me to a whole dimension of the story that was easy to gloss over otherwise.

    • @milosit
      @milosit Před 2 lety +12

      Hillbilly? I think not!

    • @mortache
      @mortache Před 2 lety +27

      But if those people were competent they would have recognized the genius of the device. It was either negligence or jealousy

    • @piyam5948
      @piyam5948 Před 2 lety +45

      Someone from the north? Bleh! They don't even live in houses up there. (Quote heard in London yesterday)

    • @dominateeye
      @dominateeye Před 2 lety +32

      As a Texan who lived in Middlesbrough (north-east England) for four years, this makes a lot of sense.

    • @lukedaniel7669
      @lukedaniel7669 Před 2 lety +20

      @@mortache It wasn't really either, the Longitude book significantly exaggerates Maskelin's animosity to Harrison for storytelling effect. Chronometers were highly accurate, very expensive and temperamental; Maskelin's lunar tables were accurate enough, cheap and never went wrong as they were calculated and published years in advance.

  • @peterv6343
    @peterv6343 Před rokem

    Legitimately loved this. Even your commercial at the end was hilarious. Love this guys!!

  • @freekingfreaking246
    @freekingfreaking246 Před 2 lety +7

    This series is absolutely fantastic. I do not have the words to appreciate it. Please keep on it. Hate to think yall have broken up

    • @JayForeman
      @JayForeman  Před 2 lety +15

      Thanks! We haven’t broken up. Map Men is coming back in 2023. Stay tuned!

    • @freekingfreaking246
      @freekingfreaking246 Před rokem

      @@JayForeman in the meantime I guess I’ll just punch my head against a rusty knife

    • @VictorbrineSC
      @VictorbrineSC Před rokem +2

      @@JayForeman This is the best news I have ever heard so far

  • @Citizen-of-theworld
    @Citizen-of-theworld Před 2 lety +30

    By the look of the “advert” at the end, I’m assuming that they are big fans of the Mighty Boosh.

  • @alexray230
    @alexray230 Před 2 lety +11

    0:37 "kind of like the triwizard tournament except no, not at all"

  • @ZearthGJL
    @ZearthGJL Před 2 lety +10

    0:52
    Rejected exam question: Using the angle of the dangle-

  • @12many4you
    @12many4you Před 2 lety +1

    Just when i thought you guys reached peak performance with your intro you step up the game like this.
    I love it

  • @FELiPES101
    @FELiPES101 Před 2 lety +90

    ahh yes dead reckoning...the best terminology for guessing

    • @Quagmirian
      @Quagmirian Před 2 lety +3

      Dead reckoning isn't guessing. It's using your last known position and your current speed to extrapolate your current position. In the absence of unknowns like currents it can be perfectly adequate.

    • @hairyairey
      @hairyairey Před 2 lety

      @@Quagmirian Only if you're travelling on land - add air or sea currents and it's next to useless.

    • @Quagmirian
      @Quagmirian Před 2 lety +1

      @@hairyairey if you know the wind and tide then you can account for it

    • @hairyairey
      @hairyairey Před 2 lety

      @@Quagmirian Over what distance? I doubt either of those could be calculated accurately for more than a few miles.

    • @Quagmirian
      @Quagmirian Před 2 lety +1

      @@hairyairey it's still extensively used in aviation and marine navigation, even with the advent of gps.

  • @bjoe385
    @bjoe385 Před 2 lety +73

    I only knew this because of Only Fools and Horses, as is true of many things.

    • @Momo_1412
      @Momo_1412 Před 2 lety +3

      Was disappointed Del Boy didn’t get a shout out 😂

  • @ivanblakely903
    @ivanblakely903 Před 2 lety +7

    Seeing Harrison's clocks at Greenwich was one of my top experiences visiting UK.
    OK, I'm a nerd...
    the beer in the local pub wasn't too bad either.

    • @alexhristache
      @alexhristache Před 2 lety +1

      Same!!

    • @mattbartley2843
      @mattbartley2843 Před 2 lety +1

      Yes, during my 2nd ever visit to London, in 2019, Greenwich Observatory was the only thing on my "must" list. (I happened to be in London during the finals of the Wimbeldon tennis tournament, but no chance of seeing that in person.) Everything else was random exploring, cool as it was.
      I most remember the ceremonial prime meridian outside and the "Is my satnav broken?" sign there, explaining why most GPS receivers won't read exactly zero longitude there. WGS84 datum versus historical, is the way I learned that.

  • @robsmithracing
    @robsmithracing Před 2 lety +2

    Del Boy held on to that pocket watch for 18 years believing it to be a Victorian egg timer.

  • @jakesteampson7043
    @jakesteampson7043 Před 2 lety +18

    0:18 It's a watch

  • @rdear
    @rdear Před 2 lety +44

    “…last for centuries. Give or take a few minutes.”
    Choose your own hyperbolic, though somehow also very true, response. Hint: they all apply.
    *chef’s kiss* - im ded - lol - rofl - epic - sensible chuckle

  • @HelloIAmJo
    @HelloIAmJo Před měsícem +1

    6:19 Jay's delivery should qualify him for any role in any piece of media as the announcer of someone not returning home after work/school/travel the day before

  • @claudiag.9307
    @claudiag.9307 Před rokem

    Discovered this channel today, love the writing!

  • @danlyle531
    @danlyle531 Před 2 lety +21

    And here I was hoping for the intro to be "clock men, clock men..."

  • @conroads2626
    @conroads2626 Před 2 lety +30

    0:05 how did you even get sponsored

  • @ashleyjarvis954
    @ashleyjarvis954 Před 2 lety +1

    Very funny and well explained. The Dava Sobel book on Longitude is a good read, glad you mentioned it.

  • @ethanmagnuson2988
    @ethanmagnuson2988 Před 2 lety +1

    Amazing work guys, one of your funniest yet

  • @owenwillard5409
    @owenwillard5409 Před 2 lety +26

    john harrison’s story is so wholesome. i love that it had a happy ending

    • @inwhichidie7171
      @inwhichidie7171 Před 2 lety +7

      Yeah, you don’t get a lot of those in history. It’s nice to see a brilliant person get recognized in their time, instead of getting executed for “communing with demons” or whatever and only being recognized centuries later

  • @EpicGamer-kj1tj
    @EpicGamer-kj1tj Před 2 lety +16

    6:00 Big funny

  • @ahronwayne5115
    @ahronwayne5115 Před 2 lety

    I don't know wny, yours are the kind of video I'll watch time and time again, just to listen to, even though I know (almost) the whole video by heart. Usually there's something new I haven't seen or heard before...

  • @timball8429
    @timball8429 Před 2 lety +1

    Longitude is a fantastic book. Nice CZcams vid chaps. Great that you’re championing John Harrison.

  • @rohanr4136
    @rohanr4136 Před 2 lety +11

    the only channel where we actually watch the sponsor segment 😂

  • @mastterby
    @mastterby Před 2 lety +4

    The credits song was beautiful!

  • @BrendonDugan
    @BrendonDugan Před 2 lety +2

    I cannot express the amount of pleasure I get out of you all slightly changing the intro every time. This is how I survived 2020.

  • @StrangerYann
    @StrangerYann Před 2 lety +2

    *starts singing along the chorus in my head* Map men Map men- *gets confused* *oh you* *you got me - again* - keep the show running U guys rock

  • @RCassinello
    @RCassinello Před 2 lety +7

    Dava Sobel's "Longitude" is one of only two books I've managed to read cover-to-cover twice in one sitting.

  • @lordvlygar2963
    @lordvlygar2963 Před 2 lety +6

    5:55 so nice to see Prince Regent from Blackadder the Third make a cameo.

  • @Nooticus
    @Nooticus Před 2 lety

    The video and ad at the end are both perfection! GG

  • @SteinGaming2006
    @SteinGaming2006 Před 2 lety +1

    Almost at a million! Congratulations in advance 🎉!