PRINTED BY BENSLEY AND SON, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET,

PRINTERS;

AND SOLD BY JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET,

BOOKSELLER

TO THE COMMISSIONERS.

1819.

[Price Five Shillings.]

EXTRACT from the ACT of PARLIAMENT concerning the Longitude, made in the Fifth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty.

W

HEREAS the Publication of Nautical Almanacs constructed by proper Persons, under the Direction of the said Commissioners, would greatly contribute to make the said Lunar Tables more generally useful; Be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commissioners to cause such Nautical Almanacs, or other useful Tables, to be constructed, and to print, publish, and vend, or cause to be printed, published, and vended, any Nautical Almanac or Almanacs, or other useful Table or Tables, which they, or the major Part of them, shall, from Time to Time, judge to be necessary and useful, in order to facilitate the Method of discovering the Longitude at Sea; any Law, Statute, exclusive Privilege, private Charter, or other Custom, to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

And be it Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That no Person or Persons shall print, publish, or vend, or cause to be printed, published, or vended, any Nautical Almanac or Almanacs, or other Table or Tables, constructed under the Direction of the said Commissioners, without being first licensed by the said Commissioners, or the major Part of them. And if any Person or Persons not so licensed, or not being authorised by the Person or Persons so licensed by the said Commissioners, shall print, publish, or vend, or cause to be printed, published, or vended, any such Nautical Almanac or Almanacs, or other Table or Tables, every such Person or Persons shall, for every Copy of such Nautical Almanac or Table so printed, published, or vended, forfeit and pay the Sum of Twenty Pounds; to be recovered by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of his Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster; and that One Moiety of such Penalty and Forfeiture shall be to His Majesty, his Heirs, and Successors, and the other Moiety to him or them that shall prosecute, inform, or sue for the

same.

EXTRACT of an Act for the Repeal of all former Acts concerning the Longitude at Sea, except so much thereof as relates to the Appointment and Authority of the Commissioners thereby constituted, and also such Clauses as relate to the constructing, printing, publishing, vending, and licensing of Nautical Almanacs and other useful Tables; and for the more effectual Encouragement and Reward of such Person and Persons as shall discover a Method for finding the same, or shall make useful Discoveries in Navigation; and for the better making Experiments relating thereto made in the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty.

BE

E it enacted by the KING's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That each and every of the said recited Acts (save and except such Clause and Clauses in each or any of them as relate to the Appointment or Authority of all or any of the Commissioners thereby respectively constituted, and also such Clause and Clauses as relate to the constructing, printing, publishing, vending, and licensing of Nautical Almanacs, and other useful Tables) shall, from and after the Twenty-fourth Day of June One thousand Seven hundred and Seventy-four, be, and are hereby repealed.

And, for a due and sufficient Encouragement to any Person or Persons who shall discover any Method or Methods for finding the said Longitude, Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the First Author or Authors, Discoverer or Discoverers, of each and every such Method or Methods, his or their Executors, Administrators, or Assigns, shall be entitled to and have the Rewards or Sums of Money herein-after mentioned; that is to say, In case the Method proposed shall be, by means of a Time-keeper, the Principles whereof have not hitherto been made public, to the Reward or Sum of Five Thousand Pounds, if such Method determines the said Longitude to One Degree of a great Circle, or Sixty geographical Miles; to the Reward or Sum of Seven thousand Five hundred Pounds, if it determines the same to Two Thirds of that Distance; and to the Reward or Sum o Ten thousand Pounds, if it determines the same to one Half of the said Distance; Which respective Rewards shall be due and paid when such Method shall have been sufficiently tried by the following Experiments and

a 2

Voyages to be made and performed by such Persons, and under such Restrictions, as the said Commissioners for the Discovery of Longitude at Sea respectively constituted by the above-recited Acts, or the major part of them, shall think fit to appoint and direct; (that is to say), When and so soon as Two or more Time-keepers of the same Construction shall have been tried at the same Time, for the Space of Twelve Months, at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, then in Two Voyages round the Island of Great Britain, in contrary Directions, and in such other Voyages to different Climates as the said Commissioners shall think fit to direct and appoint: and after their Return from such Voyages, or any of them, for such longer Time, at the said Observatory, not exceeding Twelve Months, as the said Commissioners shall judge necessary; and also when and so soon as the said Commissioners, or Two Thirds of them at the least, shall, after such Experiments and Voyages have been made and performed as aforesaid, have declared and determined that such Method is generally practicable and useful, and sufficiently exact to determine the Longitude at Sea within the Degrees or Limits aforesaid in all Voyages for the Space of Six Months, (Impediments from cloudy and hazy Weather excepted); and also when and so soon as the Principles and Practice of such Method are fully discovered and explained to the Satisfaction of the said Commissioners, or Two Thirds of them at least; and such Author or Authors, Discoverer or Discoverers, shall have delivered up and assigned over to the said Commissioners, for the Use of the Public, the absolute Property of such Time-keepers as shall have been tried by such Experiments and Voyages as aforesaid, together with all Plates, Descriptions, Theories, and Explanations belonging or relating to the same, and which shall contain the Whole of such Discovery of the Longitude; and in case the Method proposed shall be by means of improved Solar and Lunar Tables, then and in such Case the Author or Authors of such improved Solar or Lunar Tables, their Executors, Administrators, or Assigns, shall be entitled to and have the Reward or Sum of Five Thousand Pounds, if such Solar and Lunar Tables shall prove sufficiently exact to shew the Distance of the Moon from the Sun and Stars in the Heavens within Fifteen Seconds of a Degree, answering to about Seven Minutes of Longitude, after making an Allowance of Half a Degree as the Errors of Observation; and when it shall appear to the Satisfaction of the said Commissioners, or Two Thirds of them at least, that such Tables are constructed entirely upon the Principles of Gravitation laid down by Sir Isaac Newton (except with respect to those Elements which must necessarily be taken from astronomical Observations), and also when the Truth of such Tables shall have been further confirmed and proved by Comparison with a Series of astronomical Observations made during a Period of Eighteen Years and a Half, which is deemed the Period of the Irregularities of the Lunar Motions; which Reward shall be due and paid, when the said Commissioners, or Two Thirds of them at least, shall have declared, and determined, that such Tables are sufficiently exact to shew the