MD3PAD 121-123

[Dave Monroe]

>From Thomas D. Cope. "A Cock Sent Thither by the Royal
Society," Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society, Vol. 94, No. 3 (June 1950): 260-71 ...

"During the summer of 1760 the [Royal] Society was
preparing to send expeditions to St. Helena and to
Sumatra to observe the transit of Venus which was due
to occur on June 5, 1761.  Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, with
Robert Waddington as assistant, was chosen to go to
St. Helena.  Charles Mason, with Jeremiah Dixon as
assistant, was selected to observe in Sumatra.  Among
the instruments needed, clocks were listed by the
Astronomer Royal the Rev. James Bradley.  On July 3,
1760, Maskelyne requested a clock with a pendulum
compensated for temperature, to cost about 20 pounds
sterling.  On September 11, 1760, a time-piece at 20
guineas was ordered from Mr. John Ellicott.  On
November 13, 1760, Mr. Ellicott reported his clock
ready for delivery to Portsmouth and a man ready to
accompany it to supervise, and to instruct Mr. Mason
in
assembling the clock.  And on December 27, 1760,
Maskelyne and waddington signed a receipt for 'a clock
with a gridiron-pendulum' while Mason and Dixon signed
for 'a clock made by Mr. Ellicott.'  On December 23,
1760, Mr. Shelton was paid 34:16:6 [pounds].
   "These clocks were used in obsereving on St. Helena
and at the Cape of Good Hope and were brought back to
London in the spring of 1762...." (pp. 262-3)

"... the clock of the Royal Society which Maskelyne
had used on St. Helena and on Barbados arrived as
planned for the use of Mason and Dixon in
Pennsylvania." (p. 261)

"... the clock which sailed with Cook and Green to the
South Seas was either the [Shelton] clock that Mason
and Dixon used in the Forks of the Brandywine or its
identical twin.  And nowhere in all the literature has
there been even a hint of the existence of a twin."
(p. 267)

"... the clock which was sent by the Royal Society to
Mason and Dixon in Pennsylvania was John Shelton's
astronomical Regulator which is still owned by the
Society and today [1950] is keeping almost faultless
time in Burlington House, London." (p. 260)

See also ...

Maskelyne, Nevil.  "Observations on a Clock of Mr.
   John Shelton, Made at St. Helena."  Philosophical
   Transactions of the Royal Society  52 (2 ), Art.
   66 (1762)

Mason, Charles.  "Observations for Proving the Going
   of Mr. Ellicott's Clock at St. Helena."  Phil.
   Trans. 52 (2), Art. 86 (1762)

Short, James.  "An Account of Mr. Mason's Paper,
   Concerning the Going of Mr. Ellicott's Clock at
   St. Helena."  Phil. Trans. 52 (2), Art. 87 (1762)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0109&msg=59825

--- Toby G Levy <tobylevy at juno.com> wrote:

>         Dixon is required to escort Maskelyne's
> clock (the Shelton clock) back to Capetown, because
> Mason and Dixon have brought the clock they used
> for the viewing of the Transit (the Ellicott clock)
> for Maskelyne to use....

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