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Just a note:

If you are having trouble locating the reource mentioned by Kieran Kelly,
try this link which I used to access the document.

http://users.bigpond.net.au/kjkelly/gregorylunar/A%20Lunar%20Distance%20Calc
ulation%20v1.pdf

...and thanks for the information,

Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kieran Kelly" 
To: 
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 7:09 AM
Subject: A C Gregory Lunar Distance


> I have recently completed a study of a lunar distance observation
completed
> by the Australian explorer Augustus Charles Gregory in 1856. This paper
was
> completed as a guide to the explorer's detailed records filed in the
> Mitchell Library in Sydney.
>
> Although it is 60 pages long I thought some members of the list may be
> interested in reading it as it is a practical demonstration  of how lunar
> distance observations were undertaken in the field and the shortcuts and
> techniques  used by professional surveyors and explorers to work out their
> longitude. All Gregory's lunar observations  were reduced to longitude in
> the field , unlike those of his predecessors in the United States, Lewis
and
> Clark.
>
> To visit the site the following URL should be used. Note that the entire
> address has to be typed including the spaces.
>
> http://users.bigpond.net.au/kjkelly/gregorylunar/A Lunar Distance
> Calculation v1.pdf
>
>
> Because of the length of the document and its size, it may not be
> practicable for some members to access.
>
> Gregory was Australia's most outstanding terrestrial explorer, on a par
with
> James Cook, Matthew Flinders and Phillip Parker King. While Cook, Flinders
> and King delineated the exterior coastline of this country, so Gregory
> delivered us the interior. He invented the modern Australian horse
> packsaddle, a revolutionary compass known as the Gregory pattern compass,
> was a competent horologer able to strip and repair chronometers in the
bush,
> worked out advanced methods of preserving food for long distance
packhorse
> trips and was free of scurvy throughout  his entire exploring career.
During
> this career he did not lose one man and never shot an aborigine.
>
> I commend his work to you with the suggestion that exploration  at this
> level was really a work of art.
>
> I welcome any feed back on this document either via the list or by email
on
> kkelly@bigpond.net.au.
>
> The author acknowledges the contribution of list members George Bennett
> (Australia) George Huxtable (England) Bruce Stark (USA) for their
assistance
> in the preparation of the material.
>
> Kieran Kelly

   

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