Torsional pendulum was added as the regulation component for a clock to allow time keeping on a ship. British Navy secret for a bit.
Thing was, even with an accurate time piece, a universal global standard had to be in place first. And where did it start in longitude? Athens or Greenwich or Deli?
Until there was an agreed or forced upon global starting longitude line to time it from it was just never going to happen and ever be accurate. :)
Let alone the huge hurdle that Sailboats could not navigate in a straight line at a consistent speed... honestly? it was kind of an incredible thing that they actually figured it out. :)