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National Maritime Museum is exonerated!

In NavList 3309, I had a bit of a laugh at the expense of an animation, put
out by the BBC, at this website-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/launch_ani_navigation.shtml

because it contained so many navigational errors, some of which are listed
below.

It acknowledged material from the National Maritime Museum, at Greenwich,
and named as "historical consultant" Graham Dolan, of the NMM.

I contacted Graham Dolan, who has replied-

"You are not the first person to raise this. The content of the BBC site
is controlled by them and not us. I am not responsible for the content
and did not develop it.  Indeed, my involvement was nothing more than a
brief conversation. I can only assume that by attributing the content to
me, the BBC thought it would add authority to their site.

We have tried in the past to have my name removed, but clearly without
success. Can I suggest that you resend your e-mail to the BBC with a
view to getting them to correct things."

=============================

It's good to hear that the NMM has nothing to do with that content, despite
the BBC's use of their name, and that of Graham Dolan. I am informing the
BBC about the errors. Perhaps something will be done, but I have no high
hopes.

Here is my list of errors, which will make sense only to those that can
bring themselves to look at that website.

1. "The Polynesians could calculate their positions from the currents of the
waves". What on earth are "the currents of the waves"? And how could anyone
"calculate" position that way?

2. "Ptolemy's maps were rediscovered in the 15th century and were used until
the 18th". I can't class this one as an error, but I'm very surprised by the
claim that a Ptolemy map was used until the 18th century. Is there any
backing for that claim?

3. "The Pole star is near a group of stars known as the Plough or the Big
Dipper, and is itself part of the Great Bear"  Not that near, it's about 10
degrees away, and it is NOT part of the Great Bear [that's the same thing as
the Plough or Big Dipper or Ursa Major]  but is part of the Little Bear or
Ursa Minor, as the picture shows. As for the Great Bear, its stars are in
the wrong positions, completely jumbled about.

4. The backstaff illustration shows the observer looking toward the Sun.
That isn't the way it was used. The Sun was behind the observer's back,
throwing a shadow, which is why it was called a backstaff. That's the whole
point of the instrument. The text mentions only looking at the horizon,
saying nothing about the Sun and shadow.

5. The text describing an octant is illustrated by another picture of the
backstaff, not an octant.

6. Compass. Did the ancient Greeks have a compass? I don't believe it.
Evidence, please.

7. The king's complaint resulted, not from ignorance of longitude, but the
fact that his mapmakers HAD CORRECTLY measured the longitudes of the
boundaries of France. However, that was by a method that was unusable at
sea. And it was Louis XIV, not Louis XVI.

8. Cook didn't visit Tasmania on his first voyage. (He did on his third).

9. There were various ways of spelling Maskelyne, but never, I think,
Meskalyne.

10. Lunar table method. The "several hours for a lunar calculation" applied
BEFORE Maskelyne's lunar tables were published. But those tables were there
to bypass nearly all of that work, reducing the calculation to less than
half an hour. This is a common mistake, told by many that should know
better. It seems to gain authority at each retelling. But it's quite wrong.

11. 1884 conference. Map has Rio de Janeiro spelled wrong.

=========================

No doubt, you could unearth your own additions to that list.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.



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