NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: History of the sextant.
From: Dan Allen
Date: 2002 May 24, 08:52 -0700
From: Dan Allen
Date: 2002 May 24, 08:52 -0700
I wonder if Mrs Janet Taylor (c. 1837) is in any way related to E.G.R. Taylor? I have a book entitled "The Haven-Finding Art: A History of Navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook" by E.G.R. Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Geography, London University, Hon. Member of the Institute of Navigation. This book was published in London by Hollis & Carter in 1956. In the forward the author says "the author acknowledges.. and offers her thanks" -- showing that the author was a woman as well. How many Taylor women could there be with this much devotion to navigation? Not too many is my guess. W.E. May in his 1973 book "A History of Marine Navigation" mentions the late E.G.R. Taylor and in the index we learn that E.G.R. stands for Eva Germaine Rimington. I would really be interested in seeing Mrs Janet Taylor's Mariner's Calculator. That sounds like a fascinating invention. I too have Cotter's "A History of the Navigator's Sextant", as well as his "The Complete Nautical Astronomer" and "The Elements of Navigation" but I have repeatedly had no luck in finding his "A History of Nautical Astronomy" that you refer to so often. -----Original Message----- From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of George Huxtable Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 3:25 PM To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM Subject: History of the sextant. I have recently acquired a copy of "A history of the navigator's sextant", by Charles H Cotter, pub. 1983 by Brown, Son, and Ferguson, Glasgow. I wasn't previously aware of the existence of this book, and don't recall having seen a reference to it in this or any other mailing list, so this note is to bring it to the attention of list members. It seems to be still in print, 226 pages, at �20. Cotter is best known for his "A history of nautical astronomy" of some 20 years earlier, now increasingly hard to find. His book on the sextant is really comprehensive, ranging from the mariner's astrolabe through to the bubble sextants designed for air navigation. I have discovered many facts previously unknown to me. There are lots of references. It has many intriguing diversions, such as those about Mrs Janet Taylor, who ran a navigation school in the Minories, London, and wrote a book, "The principles of navigation simplified", in 1837. How did she gain her experience? one wonders. She produced the Mariner's Calculator, illustrated in that book, which combined a sextant with a precise analogue computer, for solving astronomical-triangle problems, and also brought out an Artificial Horizon attachment to a sextant in 1856. I'm keen to discover more about Mrs Janet Taylor. 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. ------------------------------