Gauging longitude at sea became practical with the invention of the marine chronometer in the 1700s. Aside from having a chronometer appear earlier through the adoption of one of the development attempts is there any other way to have longitude determined at sea more or less reliably before the 16-1700s?
I've read that Galileo and Halley proposed celestial observation to gauge time, but these require telescopes which weren't much chop until the early 1600s and aren't very good on a rolling, pitching ship. What about water clocks or something, or a combination of other methods which would be considerably better than dead reckoning?
I've read that Galileo and Halley proposed celestial observation to gauge time, but these require telescopes which weren't much chop until the early 1600s and aren't very good on a rolling, pitching ship. What about water clocks or something, or a combination of other methods which would be considerably better than dead reckoning?