marine chronometers

[Michael J Delaney]

Hi, I have a marine chronometer by John Lawson of London, made in 1860 and it was in
service with the Royal Navy until 1944. In 1944 it was sent to Navel Obs. Washington. Do they have records of where their chronometers served like Greenwich in London? Attached some photos...
Regards, Michael Delaney.

 

[wbranko]

Mike,

The answer I have always heard, and which I believe also applies to the serial numbers on WWII Naval clocks, is that the records of use and maintenance for these clocks were lost or disposed of in the years after the war. Having said this, I was told that a certain class of records no longer existed on my job in 1987. Being young (then) and undeterred by the experts, I went down to the National Archives and spent 3 weeks looking for the records and...found them. They were then lost again when the Army archives moved from Suitland to College Park, and no one could find them for over 25 years. Then last year a researcher turned them up again where they had been filed incorrectly.

Bottom line, sometime soon now that I'm retired I may go "dumpster diving" in the archives and see what can be found. It is hard to believe that all of these records were destroyed. I know that Army kept multiple copies. Why not the Navy?



Maybe someone who has better knowledge of this situation will comment on this question?

Good luck looking and happy holidays!

WB

 

[Michael J Delaney]

Thanks for your reply, can't understand why it seems so difficult to find records in America. I have found, with lots of help
it's full navy history in Greenwich. The chronometer was on at least 6 navy ships, down the east coast of Australia, around New Zealand, in Bombay, Cape of Good Hope and Bermuda among others. It still runs well, about 2 seconds a week slow...

Regards, Michael.

 

[Michael J Delaney]

Thanks, Bill Stuntz for deleting my missent pics. Michael.