Traveling by sea in the 1700s wasn't particularly safe and one of the biggest challenges was that sailors couldn't work out their positions. There are no landmarks at sea and it was called the longitude problem. A problem that Isaac Newton couldn't solve but a carpenter from Yorkshire did. On the 22nd of October 1707 there was a huge naval disaster when the Admiral of the Fleet with the ridiculous name Sir Cloudlessly Shovel made a navigational error and accidentally crashed into the Isles of Scilly, killing 200 sailors.

When Queen Anne was told what caused the disaster, the longitude problem, she set up a reward of £20,000 for anyone that could solve the problem. Now, to determine their position at sea, a sailor has to know two things. They have to know their latitude, i.e., their distance…