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Re: Carry on, Mr. Bowditch
From: Steven Tripp
Date: 2003 Jan 17, 10:25 +0900
From: Steven Tripp
Date: 2003 Jan 17, 10:25 +0900
On 1/17/03 3:42 AM, "Fred Hebard"wrote: > Bowditch's book was marketed by emphasizing what was new and > different in it; what made it better than its competitors. Thus > there was a natural tendency to elevate his contributions above those > of others. I don't believe his book was translated into foreign > languages. It is said that John Manjiro translated Bowditch into Japanese but no copies survive apparently. Manjiro was a Japanese boy rescued in the Pacific by Captain Whitfield of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and raised by him. Manjiro lived in Fairhaven, very near where Joshua Slocum rebuilt Spray, although 50 years earlier, and attended the navigation school there. Occasionally, when Captain Whitfield was away, he stayed with Captain Delano, FDR's maternal grandfather. My cousin Job Tripp lived across the street and was Manjiro's best friend. Manjiro eventually joined the 1849 Gold Rush and made enough money to buy passage back to Japan (although Japan was still closed and he faced a possible death penalty for leaving). Steve Tripp