Re: Somehow this has a familiar ring to it

[Mike Barnes]

All the clockmaker had to do was use a sundial to set his clock

>at noon.

For extra accuracy he could set his clock at midnight as well. He'd need to splash out on a luminous sundial, though.

[BillR]

Wasn't the whole point of a ship's chronometer it wasn't set to local time but to say GMT. Otherwise its not a lot of use in finding your longitude.

[IMM]

Correct. That's why I posted a link for a "ship's clock" not a chronometer.

[geoff]

In message , BillR writes

It's a parable. Of course with the correct angle of dangle and a bit of maths,...

[Christian McArdle]

If you have an accurate local time and what port you are in, you can set the chronometer. I presume the navigator had access to the known co-ordinates of the port.

Christian.