Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude [Hardcover]

Louise Borden (Author), Erik Blegvad (Illustrator)

Book Description

"For hundreds of years ships had been sailing to places far and near without really knowing where they were!"

Sailors knew how to measure latitude, their location north or south of the equator, but they could not measure longitude, their location east or west of their home port. Because of this, many lives were lost worldwide. The key to solving this problem lay in devising a clock that could keep absolutely accurate time while at sea, unaltered by rough water or weather conditions. With such a timekeeper sailors would be able to know the time back at their home port and calculate the longitude. But no one knew how to design such a clock.

John Harrison (1693-1776), an Englishman without any scientific training, worked tirelessly for more than forty years to create a perfect clock. The solution to this problem was so important that an award of 20,000 pounds sterling (equal to several million dollars today) was established by the English Parliament in 1714. Harrison won recognition for his work in 1773.

Together with beautifully detailed pictures by Erik Blegvad, Louise Borden's text takes the reader through the drama, disappointments, and successes that filled Harrison's quest to invent the perfect sea clock.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-This handsome, well-researched picture book introduces John Harrison, the 18th-century English carpenter turned clockmaker who spent more than 40 years perfecting a device that solved the centuries-old problem of determining longitude. Beginning with Harrison's childhood, Borden presents biographical tidbits that bring the man to life, show how he differed from "most other village folk," and set the scene for his later accomplishments. With no formal training in clock making, he followed his instincts and used trial and error to build innovative timepieces. The narrative next describes the difficulties involved in determining east/west positioning at sea, explaining that captains could calculate longitude if they had an accurate shipboard timekeeper (a task impossible for 18th-century pendulum clocks). The prize offered by Parliament for a solution to the problem is also mentioned. The rest of the book details Harrison's dedication, perseverance, and ingenuity, as he struggled to build and perfect an accurate sea clock and fought to have his invention acknowledged by the Board of Longitude. The writing has a measured pace that helps readers to keep the details straight and the scientific concepts are clearly explained and smoothly incorporated into the text. Blegvad's precise illustrations create a strong sense of time and place. Alternating between black-and-white sketches and watercolor paintings, the pictures show Harrison hard at work, offer close-ups of his various inventions, and provide glimpses of his England. Taking a slightly different approach and providing more depth, this book makes a solid companion to Kathryn Lasky's The Man Who Made Time Travel (Farrar, 2003).
Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-4. Like Kathleen Lasky's The Man Who Made Time Travel [BKL Mr 1 03], this handsome picture book biography recasts the story made famous by Dava Sobel's Longitude (1995) in terms children can enjoy. In unintimidating free verse, Borden narrates the life of John Harrison, the village clockmaker who invented the chronometer--an accurate "sea clock" that allows captains to ascertain their longitude and avoid veering off course--and then spent decades fighting for recognition. The text reads beautifully but sometimes risks oversimplification ("[he] had more courage than all the pompous astronomers and mathematicians put together") and is occasionally vague (Borden explains that Harrison's clock had no pendulum, but doesn't say what it used instead). Blegvad's artwork charmingly depicts Harrison's eighteenth-century milieu, though more direct support of the content may have been warranted. Young readers will nonetheless find plenty to inspire them in this scientific Cinderella story; however, many may reach for Lasky's version first for its more appealing title and Hawkes' illustrations, which favor the dramatic over the picturesque. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1 edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689842163
• ISBN-13: 978-0689842160
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Geography
  • #99 in Books > Children's Books > History > Exploration & Discovery

More About the Author

Born (Oct 30,1949) and raised in Cincinnati, I have lived in Ohio my entire life except for two years in Massachusetts right after I was married. Growing up in an old house on a steep street, I attended a small elementary school called Lotspeich. There, all the marvelous shelves of books in the library shaped me into a lifelong reader. So it is a thrill for me to know that some of my books are being read by children in other libraries all over the country.

Before I became a full-time writer and speaker, I taught preschoolers and first graders and was even a part-owner of a bookstore in Cincinnati.

Today, it is hard for me to separate my writing from the way I live my life. My own family, personal experiences, and friendships, as well as a love of history and travel, have rich and lasting connections to the books I write. The first impulse to write a book is always triggered by something that has touched me indelibly.

In addition to my writing, my work in schools allows me to travel the incredible variety of landscape in Ohio, and meet the heart of its people. I have spoken in over 400 schools across the country, but mostly in Ohio. Because of this, I now have lifelong friends in communities from mighty Cleveland to small-town Greenville.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Children's Book, February 14, 2006

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude (Hardcover)

SEA CLOCKS tells the story of John Harrison, the English craftsman who solved the problem of how to determine longitude. Until he came along, latitude (distance north or south) was pretty easy to determine but longitude (distance east and west) was nothing more than a guess. The idea was understood but there was no practical way to make the determination. It depended upon the accurate determination of time which was beyond the mechanical devices of the day, especially at sea.

Harrison came from a humble background and trained himself. He managed to make important friends and connections. He also had many who were jealous of him and held him down. He spent his life solving the problem of longitude only to find that many snobs wanted to wait for a solution until it could be provided by somebody of the right social class.

This is not an exciting read but it is in informative one that might well appeal to young people. It presents just enough of the technicalities to make the problem understandable but does not go off into detail. Mostly, it is just a story of perseverance and honor. It's a good example.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging picture book about solving a real world problem, May 18, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude (Hardcover)

Louise Borden's Sea Clocks: The Story Of Longitude is a picture book rendition of a troubling problem for sailors in the 1700's and before - although they could measure their latitude, they could not calculate their longitude, and therefore did not know exactly where they were on the waves. Many lives were lost at sea because of this. The solution to the problem would be to devise a clock that would keep accurate time at sea, regardless of water or weather conditions. Many struggled to create such a timekeeper; Sea Clocks follows the work of mechanical genius John Harrison (1693-1776), who labored tirelessly to make a viable sea clock a reality. Black-and-white and some sketchy color illustrations by Erik Blegvad nicely illuminate this engaging picture book about solving a real world problem.