Back in 1714 the British government launched a challenge for finding a simple and practical method for precise determination of a ships longitude.

The Longitude Price was establiched through an Act of Parliament in 1714 and the price sum was over  £100,000 was given in the form of encouragements and awards

The winner John Harrison was awarded £14,315 for his work on the chronometers. 

The interesting thing here is that John Harrison was a watchmaker, not a astronomer or scientist who more likely would have had the knowledge of measuring a ships longitude. 

Read more in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_prize