Longitude Act

E785577

The Longitude Act was an 18th-century British law that established substantial financial rewards to encourage the development of accurate methods for determining a ship’s longitude at sea, spurring innovations like marine chronometers.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Longitude Act 1714 2
Longitude Act canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom
British statute
administeredBy Board of Longitude
appliesTo determination of longitude
navigation at sea
beneficiary John Harrison
country Kingdom of Great Britain
createdInstitution Board of Longitude
dateEnacted 1714-07-08
enactedBy Parliament of Great Britain
establishedBody Board of Longitude
field maritime navigation
timekeeping
hasEffectOn Royal Navy navigation practices
merchant shipping navigation practices
historicalPeriod 18th century
influencedPerson John Harrison
Nevil Maskelyne
jurisdiction Parliament of Great Britain
languageOfWork English
legalStatus public act
locationOfEnactment London
linked to: London, England
longTitle An Act for providing a publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea
linked to: Board of Longitude
motivatedInnovation lunar distance method
marine chronometer
offeredReward £10,000 for finding longitude within 1 degree
£15,000 for finding longitude within 2/3 of a degree
£20,000 for finding longitude within 1/2 degree
purpose to encourage the development of accurate methods for determining longitude at sea
to improve maritime navigation safety
to reduce shipwrecks and losses in long‑distance sea voyages
reasonForEnactment difficulty of determining longitude at sea
frequent shipwrecks due to navigational errors
relatedTo Age of Sail
Board of Longitude
British maritime expansion
marine chronometer
rewardCondition demonstration of a practical method to determine longitude at sea
rewardCurrency pounds sterling
shortTitle Longitude Act 1714
linked to: Longitude Act
signedBy Queen Anne
sponsor government of Queen Anne
subjectMatter longitude
maritime safety
navigation
typeOfReward monetary prize
verificationMethod sea trials under supervision of the Board of Longitude
yearEnacted 1714

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Board of Longitude legalBasis Longitude Act 1714
linked to: Longitude Act
Longitude Act shortTitle Longitude Act 1714
linked to: Longitude Act