5421

This chronometer was purchased by the Admiralty from William Webb on December 6 1860. In 1869 it was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, probably for issue to a ship there rather than to the Observatory, returning three years later. In 1870 it was sent to the destroyer HMS Wolverine and in 1886 was issued to the second rate Victor Emmanuel. In 1902 it went to the cruiser HMS Charybdis for three years and served on the tanker HMS Birchol in 1924. In 1932 the chronometer was on board the light cruiser HMS Cairo for five years, then going to Colombo in 1940. In 1946 it served on the trawler HMS Sursay and then on Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Belgol. In 1965 the chronometer was presented to the NMM by the Astronomer Royal. It was loaned to the Physics Exhibition at Alexandra Palace in March 1972 [56th Exhibition of Scientific Instruments and Apparatus (Institute of Physics) at Alexandra Palace in London from March 13-16, 1972]. On 10 February 1978, the instrument was loaned, with a number of others, to the BBC at Ealing Studios, to take part in the filming of the six-part BBC miniseries The Voyage of Charles Darwin.