Interesting.  However the article states that Harrison's “key decision he made was to reject the Mercator projection, which had outlived its purpose. Instead, he drew on other projections, such as this one from 1943, centered on the north pole” . However it seems that Gerardus Mercator of Flanders (Belgium), the leading cartographer of the mid-16th century, developed not only a cylindrical projection (1538) but other map projections as well like the polar projection (1595).http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ren/Ren1/407.html