Note by Joseph Banks about Mendoza Rios and his method of calculations Banks comments on the possibility of the Board of Longitude rewarding Mendoza Rios for his efforts, particularly has Rios had suffered a loss has he published his tables himself ( 'Tables for Navigation and Nautical Astronomy', 1809 ). Mendoza Rios's work was (he believed) a refinement on the lunar distance method of determining longitude (a lunar distance is the distance between the moon and the sun or a fixed star. By comparing the local time when the lunar distance was observed with time predicted for the same lunar distance to occur at a known meridian, the difference in longitude could be deduced). c.1813