Larcum Kendall
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Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlesbury, Oxfordshire to 22 November 1790 in London) was a British Clockmaker.
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[edit] Commission
The Board of Longitude, assigned to Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison's ingenious fourth model of an useful clockfor navigation. The original had an astronomical price, approximately 30% of the value of a ship.
[edit] K1
The first model finished by Kendall in the context of this order 1769 was an accurate copy of the Harrison Model 4 (H4), cost 500 £, and is known today as K1. James Cook tested the clock on its second South Seas journey and was full of praise after initial skepticism. "Kendalls watch exceeded all expectations" he report in 1775 to the admiralty. Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnolds, had not withstood the loads of the same journey. To call it a "watch" is misleading using today's yardsticks. The clock had a diameter of 13 cm and weighed 1.45 kg. K1 accompanied English ships more than thirty years.
[edit] K2
Kendall assured that he would be able to build by simplifications a similar clock for around 200 £. He received the order and presented the 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 by far less exactly than the original. William Bligh 1787 in the log of the HMS Bounty a daily inaccuracy, which between 1,1 and three seconds and that it had varied irregularly. Fame attained the clock because of the mutiny on the Bounty. It returned to England many years later after an odyssey. The American sealing ship's captain Mayhew Folger redisovered Pitcarin 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 the HMS Calliope, who had it conveyed to the British Museum around 1840. The chronometer is now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.
[edit] 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 inserted still on Matthew Flinders journey to Australia, 1801. Kendall was a first-class craftsman, but was not a technical designer. After K3 Kendall built stop watches after the model John Arnolds model.
[edit] The three watches now
K1, K2 and K3 are kept in the The old Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.