Well since my original post I have since learnt about Harrison and his clocks, and I beleive it was the fourth or fifth that Cook took with him, which was the clock that won Harrison the award from the board of Longitude. As far as I know, the Royal Navy supported Harrison, and his battle was more so with the Board Of Longitude, a board set up by the Queen in order to reward whoever could come up with an effective method of determining longitude and therefore avoid so many shipping 'accidents'. Harrison's greatest opposition was, to my knowlege, from the astronomers on the Board of Longitude itself.

Also interesting is that Harrison was a carpenter by trade, and his first clocks (not the sea clocks) were made completely out of wood, and lost far less time than many of the other clocks made in that day.

I am in Australia, so I am looking at Southern skies, which I am relatively familiar with. But are there are constellations/stars that are common to both southern and northern skies?