NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Amerigo Vespucci's navigational claims
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2007 Aug 12, 11:58 -0400
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2007 Aug 12, 11:58 -0400
In the New York Times, a review of a book about Amerigo Vespucci mentions his claims to navigational skills. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Philbrick-t.html? pagewanted=2&ref=books The claim is quoted below: In these narratives, Vespucci depicts himself as a navigator par excellence. While mere seamen rely on experience and orally transmitted sailing instructions to find their way across the ocean, Vespucci ostentatiously wields his navigational instruments. Much like that of the medical doctors of his day, Vespucci's science appears to have been more about deception and bluff than actual results, but as Fern�ndez-Armesto writes, "the difference between magic and science is narrower than most people think today." Does anybody know what Vespucci's claims were? I also found interesting the quote, "the difference between magic and science is narrower than most people think today." Certainly the skill needed to become proficient in the use of a sextant, not to mention sight reduction, makes proficiency appear as magic. This is predates the use of any of the magical electronic devices with which we are becoming familiar. Fred Hebard --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
