| Description | Thomas Mudge petitioned Parliament after his Father's instrument to determine Longitude was awarded £500. Mudge believed it should have claimed the higher sums offered by the Board of Longitude and blamed Nevil Maskelyne for this.
This document sets out the case of the Board of Longitude that if Mudge was awarded compensation by the Committee, it would need to compensate others as their designs for time-keepers and chronometers were better than Mudge's.
("The judgements to be formed on the goodness of Mr Mudge's watch is a relative one with respect to the going of the best watches of others, such as Mr Arnold's; for tho' Mr Mudge's watches may contain improvements upon Mr [John] Harrison's, the proper question is whether his improvements are equal to Mr Arnold's"). |