"This thesis focuses on the relationship between the clock- and watch-making communities in London and the institutions and personnel associated with the Admiralty, East India Company and the Board of Longitude, in the British effort to manage an effective solution for finding longitude at sea. The thesis identifies a strict cohort of Greenwich-trained personnel (mostly astronomers) and instruments (timekeepers, textbooks, tents) that emerged from the Royal Observatory from the 1770s onwards. It follows their production, testing and training in England, their experience and deployment around the world on a range of voyages, through to the impact made by their journeys back in the metropolis. By following the paths traced by these instruments, makers and users, the thesis proposes a new account of the relations between industrial transformation and imperial power in the period 1770-1820."--Provided by the author.