as part of the reward. But the
Commissioners still hesitated. They differed about the tempering
of the springs. They must have another trial of the timekeeper,
or anything with which to put off a settlement of the claim.
Harrison was ready for any further number of trials; and in the
meantime the Commissioners merely paid him a further sum on
account.
Two more dreary years passed. Nothing was done in 1763 except a
quantity of interminable talk at the Board of Commissioners. At
length, on the 28th of March, 1764, Harrison's son again departed
with the timekeeper on board the ship Tartar for Barbadoes. He
returned in about four months, during which time the instrument
enabled the longitude to be ascertained within ten miles, or
one-third of the required geographical distance. Harrison
memorialised the Commissioners again and again, in order that he
might obtain the reward publicly offered by the Government.
At length the Commissioners could no longer conceal the truth.
In September,1764, they virtually recognised Harrison's claim by
paying him 1000L. on account; and, on the 9th of February,1765,
they passed a resolution setting forth that they were
"unanimously of opinion that the said timekeeper has kept its
time with sufficient correctness, without losing its longitude in
the voyage from Portsmouth to Barbadoes beyond the nearest limit
required by the Act l2th of Queen Anne, but even considerably
within the same.
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