Books: The Face of the World

THE STORY OF MAPS (397 pp.)—Lloyd A. Brown—Little, Brown ($7.50).

Until late in the 18th Century, no ship's captain was ever dead sure of his position at sea. It was not uncommon, on long voyages, to miscalculate port by a hundred miles and miss island destinations entirely. Reason: no one had ever discovered a means of determining longitude.

In 1598, Philip III of Spain vainly offered a fat pension to the man who could solve the mystery. In 1707, a British fleet homeward bound from Gibraltar groped about blindly for twelve days in bad weather before it ran aground on the Scilly Islands...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!