With nearly 2,000 sailors lost that night , the Scilly naval disaster was recorded as one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history . The cause of the disaster has often been represented as the navigators ' inability accurately to calculate their longitude , although no public discussion of the events specifically raising the question of longitude is known , prior to a pamphlet published on the eve of Parliament 's vote on the Longitude Act , seven years later
Scilly naval disaster
Scilly naval disaster of 1707
Cloudesley Shovell