NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Endeavour voyage reconstruction.
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2002 Aug 5, 20:58 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2002 Aug 5, 20:58 +0100
A year ago, or so, there was some discussion on Nav-L about a reconstruction voyage by the BBC, using the modern replica of Cook's "Endeavour" to replicate a leg of Cook's first circumnavigation in 1770. That leg was from what's now called Cooktown, on the Endeavour river in Queensland, to Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia. The passage started in the nearest real port (Cairns), and during the voyage, following the international tensions of September 2001, the end-point was changed to the more placid island of Bali rather than Jakarta. My small part of this was in the initial planning of the navigation, which was intended to use the techniques and instruments available to Cook on that voyage (i.e. DR, noon Sun, lunar distances, and no chronometer) to shadow the navigation of the modern vessel. I was a member of a small advisory team assembled by the BBC. By chance, we were all members of White Horse Cruising Club, a club of salt-water sailors who happen to live inland, in the Oxford area. Some Nav-L members, learning of my involvement, had questions to ask about this voyage. However, the BBC had asked for any publicity to be limited, so far in advance of the transmission of the programme. This I had to respect, so I asked for any such questions to be held over, Now, a year later, the programme is due to go out here in Britain over six weeks, starting on 20th August, I understand. The trailers have started already. No doubt, before long, there will be no escape for any of you, around the world. So now I reckon to be released from my vow of silence, and if there's anyone still interested out there with questions to ask, I'll do my best to answer them. Be aware, though, that I didn't go on the voyage (tropical climates are not for me), and had little contact after Endeavour set sail. The series will be titled "The Ship", I'm sorry to state. This is the first technical error to be noted down, as Endeavour was a Bark, and definitely not a Ship. Since that BBC voyage, Endeavour has sailed for Britain, around the Horn for the first time, and is now in Whitby, Yorkshire, Cook's home town. George Huxtable. ------------------------------ george@huxtable.u-net.com George Huxtable, 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. Tel. 01865 820222 or (int.) +44 1865 820222. ------------------------------