`It was a 400-year-old jigsaw and the final piece fell into place only in 1862." Michael Egan, who served for 32 years as a radio officer with the Valentia Radio Station, was talking about the search for the key to longitude.
The story was the stuff of romance novels, involving the genius of an English clock maker, John Harrison (16931776), who outshone the best scientific minds of his day to take the prize offered by the British government for a solution to the enigma.
There is a direct link with Valentia Island in Kerry because it was there in 1862 that the triangular Altazimuth Stone was unveiled. The carved inscription read: "Great European Arc of Longitude, site of the position of the Altazamuth used to determine the longitude of Valentia in 1862."
A similar stone had been placed in the Ural Mountains in Russia, making it possible to establish the longitude of the Urals on the eastern tip of Europe, and Valentia, the most westerly point. Following the work of Harrison, the stone was introduced by Sir George Airy for measuring altitude and azimuth - hence its name.
It is still there and is now on private property. It is weather beaten and the word "position" has been hacked off. But under the guidance of Mr Egan and the Valentia Tidy Towns Committee at Knightsbridge, a perfect replica has been made.
The initiative recently won the Department of the Environment's Green Town 2000 Award when it was submitted as one of 259 entries from across the State. It will be proudly displayed in Knights bridge with a signpost depicting distances to various locations.
Now retired, Mr Egan was anxious that neither the historic stone nor Valentia's role in completing the longitude jigsaw should be forgotten. "Countless lives were lost at sea simply because seafarers didn't know where they were. The ability to define longitude changed all that," he said.