By T. 8. Mmhelyne. 



129 



voyage, but it answered a more important purpose and one of a 

 wider influence than that originally intended. During the. voyage 

 he introduced into navigation the determination of longitude by 

 lunar distances, "a method long contemplated as a grand desideratum 

 in navigation,' ' plans for which had been suggested by Flamsteed, 

 Newton, La Caille, and others, which it was now the task of Nevil 

 Maskelyne to reduce to practice. 



Soon after his return he published his " British Mariner's Guide," 

 which has been called the " Germ of the Nautical Almanac." 

 " Seamen must never forget that they are indebted to him for the 

 Nautical Almanac, the management of chronometers, and the 

 establishment of lunar observations " are the words of Admiral 

 Smyth, in a work in which, under the name of " the Celestial 

 Cycle," he made important contributions to astronomy, while 

 bringing the science within the reach of all. 



Two years later — in 1763 — Maskelyne undertook another scien- 

 tific voyage by appointment of the Lords of the Admiralty, in 

 order to find the longitude of the Island of Barbadoes by astro- 

 nomical observation, and to test Harrison's chronometer ; a voyage 

 on which he held the rank of chaplain to the ship. 



In 1764 the office of Astronomer Royal became vacant by the 

 death of Dr. Nathaniel Bliss, who had succeeded Dr. Bradley only 

 two years before. 



This office was justly considered of great national importance. 

 It had been established by Charles II. about a hundred years before 

 this time, " for the purpose of rectifying the tables of the motions 

 of the heavens and places of fixed stars, in order to find out the 

 much desired longitude at sea, and for perfecting the art of 

 navigation." Through want of this knowledge whole fleets had 

 been lost, and Government had offered immense rewards for 

 practical methods of determining the problem ; and when Nevil 

 Maskelyne — the " Father" as he has been called, " of Lunar 

 observation " — was made Astronomer Royal, the appointment an- 

 nounced in the London Gazette, February 16th, 1765, gave universal 

 satisfaction. 



General Malcolm (in his Life of Lord Give) attributed the 



