Question

The following passage is adapted from an essay on the history of ocean navigation.

[Paragraph 1] (lines 1–12)
For centuries, ocean voyages were perilous undertakings defined by a fundamental cartographic limitation: the inability of sailors to determine their longitude. While latitude could be calculated relatively easily by measuring the angle of the sun or the North Star above the horizon, calculating longitude required knowing the precise time at a reference meridian (such as Greenwich) compared to the local time on the ship. Because seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pendulum clocks were highly sensitive to the motion of waves and changes in temperature, they were useless at sea. Consequently, navigators had to rely on "dead reckoning," an imprecise estimation method that frequently resulted in catastrophic shipwrecks and lost cargo.

[Paragraph 2] (lines 13–27)
The breakthrough came in the mid-eighteenth century with the work of John Harrison, an English clockmaker who dedicated his life to solving the longitude problem. Rejecting the prevailing scientific consensus that a celestial solution—tracking the moon's position against the stars—was the only viable method, Harrison focused on mechanical innovation. He realized that a marine timepiece had to maintain an exact cadence despite the violent pitching of a vessel and the corrosive effects of salt air. Over several decades, Harrison developed a series of chronometers, culminating in the H4, a large watch-like device that utilized a fast-beating balance wheel and temperature-compensation mechanics. The H4 successfully maintained accurate time during a transatlantic voyage in 1761, proving that a mechanical clock could indeed withstand the rigors of the sea.

Based on the passage, which of the following statements best describes the main idea of the second paragraph (lines 13��27)?