y 1879, little had changed in either Europe or North America. It was in that year, that Fleming published his paper: Time-Reckoning and the selection of a prime meridian to be common to all nations. In it, he presented a table ‘prepared from the latest authorities within reach’, in which he gave ‘an estimate of the number and tonnage of steamers and sailing ships belonging to the several nations of the world’ along with the meridians which they used for determining their longitude. 95.5% of the World’s ships (97.5% by tonnage) were found to be using eleven main meridians (illustrated right). Of the top three, the Greenwich meridian was being used by 65% of ships (72% by tonnage), Paris by 10% (8% by tonnage) and Cadiz by 5% (3% by tonnage). In terms of economics, alone, the case for Greenwich was compelling.