Errors in navigation have also resulted in shipwrecks . Motivated by a number of maritime disasters attributable to serious errors in reckoning position at sea , particularly such spectacular disasters as the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 , which took Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and his fleet , the British government established the Board of Longitude in 1714 : The prizes were to be awarded for the discovery and demonstration of a practical method for determining the longitude of a ship at sea . Prizes were offered in graduated amounts for solutions of increasing accuracy . These prizes , worth the equivalent of millions of pounds in today 's currency , motivated many to search for a solution
Scilly naval disaster of 1707
Scilly naval disaster of 1707
History of longitude