Larcum Kendall

Larcum Kendall (21 September 1721 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire to 22 November 1795 in London) was a British Watchmaker.

Commission

The Board of Longitude asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison's ingenious fourth model of a useful clock (H4) for navigation at sea. The original, the first successful chronometer, had an astronomical price, approximately 30% of the value of a ship.

K1

The first model finished by Kendall in 1769 was an accurate copy of John Harrison's H4, cost £500 , and is known today as K1. James Cook tested the clock on his second South Seas journey and was full of praise after initial skepticism. "Kendall's watch exceeded all expectations" he reported in 1775 to the admiralty. It was thus K1 which proved to a doubting scientific establishment that H4's success was no fluke.

Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold, had not withstood the loads of the same journey. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 cm and weighed 1.45 kg. K1 accompanied English ships more than thirty years.

K2

Kendall assured the Board that he would be able to build a similar but simpler clock for around £200. He received the order and presented K2 in 1771. It was given in 1773 to John Phipps for its expedition for the search of a Northwest passage, then it was assigned in North America. It worked less exactly than the original. William Bligh 1787 in his log of HMS "Bounty", recorded a daily inaccuracy of between 1.1 and three seconds and that it had varied irregularly. Fame attained the chronometer because of the mutiny on the Bounty. It returned to England many years later after an odyssey. The American ship's captain Mayhew Folger rediscovered Pitcairn Island in 1808 and was given the chronometer by the one remaining mutineer there. The Spanish governor of Juan Fernandez Island confiscated the watch. The chronometer was later purchased by a Spaniard named Castillo. When he died, his family conveyed it to Captain Herbert of HMS "Calliope", who had it conveyed to the British Museum around 1840. The chronometer is now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

K3

Kendall's third and last attempt, the K3 in 1774, cost around £100 finished and did not have the demanded accuracy. Cook carried her additionally to K1 on its last journey. Nevertheless it was still used on Matthew Flinders's journey to Australia, 1801. Kendall was a first-class craftsman, but was not a technical designer. After K3 Kendall built chronometers to the design of John Arnold.

The three watches now

K1, K2 and K3 are kept in the "The old Royal Observatory", National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.

ee also

*Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World by G.H.Baillie

External References

* [http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/encyclopedia2.shtml Mayhew Folger's account of meeting the Bounty descendants]
* [http://www.bookmaven.net/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=10809&CLSN_827=116242363582728a996df189613667a8 Book by Nordoff and Hall which includes Folger's account of the rediscovery]
* [http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/bkmav/5324.shtml Another link to Nordoff and Hall's book]
* [http://www.nmm.ac.uk/searchbin/searchs.pl?exhibit=it1742z&axis=1105933149&flash=true&dev= The Larcum Kendall Bounty Watch in the National Maritime Museum]
* [http://www.lareau.org/chrono.html The story of the Bounty Chronometer]