The Scilly Naval Disaster of 22 October 1707, Which Drowned an Admiral and Created the Longitude Prize
On the night of 22 October 1707, a Royal Navy fleet returning from the Mediterranean — its position miscalculated — drove onto the rocks of the Isles of Scilly. Four ships and up to 2,000 men were lost, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell among them. The catastrophe pushed Parliament to the Longitude Act of 1714 and its £20,000 prize.
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