For those of you that don't know, English maritime success in the 18th Century was due in no small part by John Harrison. He was an English clockmaker who developed the first maritime timepiece which the Royal Navy would soon use to traverse the globe far more accurately than any standard method to measure longitude. Before his invention, seafaring was risky and dangerous as a single slip in calculation could lead an entire ship astray and to eventual wreckage.
Of course, he didn't just invent it over night. It was a long grueling process where Parliament and the Board of Longitude (charged with finding the most accurate method to measure longitude for England's ships) put all sorts of road blocks in his path so that he woudln't come up with the timepiece, or at the very least, wouldn't be able to claim it as his own invention.
Say sometime in the beginning, or the middle, of the process Harrison gets completely fed up and says the hell with it, and he doesn't invent the timepiece. How does the Royal Navy fare now?
Or better yet, say he completes the piece on his own sells it invention to France or Spain?
The only differences I can see would be a level playing field for the first WI in which England has no better advantage than the other colonial powers. And the second WI would be giving that advantage over to one of England's enemies. Perhaps a French victory in the Seven Years War or a resurgent Spanish Empire?
Any thoughts?
Of course, he didn't just invent it over night. It was a long grueling process where Parliament and the Board of Longitude (charged with finding the most accurate method to measure longitude for England's ships) put all sorts of road blocks in his path so that he woudln't come up with the timepiece, or at the very least, wouldn't be able to claim it as his own invention.
Say sometime in the beginning, or the middle, of the process Harrison gets completely fed up and says the hell with it, and he doesn't invent the timepiece. How does the Royal Navy fare now?
Or better yet, say he completes the piece on his own sells it invention to France or Spain?
The only differences I can see would be a level playing field for the first WI in which England has no better advantage than the other colonial powers. And the second WI would be giving that advantage over to one of England's enemies. Perhaps a French victory in the Seven Years War or a resurgent Spanish Empire?
Any thoughts?