Editing Longitude rewards (section)

==Establishing the prizes==
In the early 1700s, a series of maritime disasters occurred, including the wrecking of a squadron of naval vessels on the [[Scilly naval disaster of 1707|Isles of Scilly in 1707]].<ref name=Stimson>{{cite journal|last1=Stimson|first1=Alan|title=The Longitude Problem: The Navigator's Story|journal=The Quest for Longitude: The Proceedings of the Longitude Symposium|date=1996|pages=71–84}}</ref> Around the same time, mathematician Thomas Axe decreed in his will that a £1,000 prize be awarded for promising research into finding "true longitude" and that annual sums be paid to scholars involved in making corrected world maps.<ref name=Turner>{{cite journal|last1=Turner|first1=A. J.|title=In the Wake of the Act, but Mainly Before|journal=The Quest for Longitude: The Proceedings of the Longitude Symposium|date=1996|pages=115–132}}</ref>

In 1713, when the longitude proposal of [[William Whiston]] and [[Humphrey Ditton]] was presented at the opening of the session of Parliament, a general understanding of the longitude problem prompted the formation of a parliamentary committee and the swift passing of the Longitude Act on July 8, 1714.<ref name=Turner/> Within this act are detailed three prizes based on levels of accuracy, which are the same accuracy requirements used for the Axe prize, set by Whiston and Ditton in their petition, and recommended by [[Sir Isaac Newton]] and [[Edmund Halley]] to the parliamentary committee.<ref name=Sobel_1>{{cite book|last1=Sobel|first1=Dava|title=The Illustrated Longitude|date=1995|publisher=Walker and Company|location=New York}}</ref>

*£10,000 (equivalent to £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|10000|1714|2023|r=0}}}} in 2023{{Inflation-fn|UK}}) for a method that could determine longitude within 1 [[Degree of arc|degree]] (equivalent to {{convert|60|nmi}} at the equator).  
*£15,000 (equivalent to £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|15000|1714|2023|r=0}}}} in 2023{{Inflation-fn|UK}}) for a method that could determine longitude within 40 [[Minutes of arc|minutes]].  
*£20,000 (equivalent to £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|20000|1714|2023|r=0}}}} in 2023{{Inflation-fn|UK}}) for a method that could determine longitude within 30 minutes.
 
In addition, rewards were on offer for those who could produce a method that worked within 80 geographical miles of the coast (where ships would be in most danger), and for those with promising ideas who needed financial help to bring them to trial.

Proposed methods would be tested by sailing through the ocean, from Britain to any port in West Indies (about six weeks) without losing its longitude beyond the limits listed above.  Also, the contender would be required to demonstrate the accuracy of their method by determining the longitude of a specific land-based feature whose longitude was already accurately known. The parliamentary committee also established the [[Board of Longitude]]. This panel of adjudicators would review proposed solutions and were also given authority to grant up to £2,000 in advances for promising projects that did not entirely fulfill the terms of the prize levels, but that were still found worthy of encouragement.<ref name=Stimson/> The exact terms of the requirements for the prizes would later be contended by several recipients, including John Harrison. Ultimately, the £20,000 reward was not awarded to anyone in a lump sum, although [[John Harrison]] did receive a series of payments totaling £23,065.<ref name=Andrewes_2>{{cite journal|last1=Andrewes|first1=William J. H.|title=Even Newton Could Be Wrong: The Story of Harrison's First Three Sea Clocks|journal=The Quest for Longitude: The Proceedings of the Longitude Symposium|date=1996|pages=189–234}}</ref> The [[Board of Longitude]] remained in existence for more than 100 years. When it was officially disbanded in 1828, an excess of £100,000 had been disbursed.<ref name=Sobel_1/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Howse|first1=Derek|title=Britain's Board of Longitude: The Finances|url=http://blogs.rmg.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/03/howse.pdf|publisher=Mariner's Mirror |year=1998|access-date=30 April 2015}}</ref>