Welcome to the NavList Message Boards.

NavList:

A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding

Compose Your Message

Message:αβγ
Message:abc
Add Images & Files
    Name or NavList Code:
    Email:
       
    Reply
    Re: Lewis and Clark lunars: more 1803 Almanac data
    From: Kieran Kelly
    Date: 2004 Apr 18, 21:59 +1000
    I really don't agree with Frank on this point when he says:
     
    "It surprised me, too. As I've looked through 19th c. ships' logbooks, I've found numerous references to star patterns, but many of them are remarkably ignorant statements, and professional seagoing navigators rarely used the stars (except for lunars). I am sure that far, far more people knew the basic constellations in 1804 than know them in 2004. I would venture a (wild) guess that 25% of people could readily identify a dozen constellations in 1804 while perhaps 0.1% can do that today."

    I think I have made the point before on this list that while marine navigators may not have  used stars, land based explorers and surveyors certainly did.  Merewether Lewis's coach in celestial navigation was Andrew Ellicott who was in fact not a sailer but an astronomer and would have been very familiar with all the stars.

    I am no expert on maritime celestial navigation but have read widely on 17th and 18th century terrestrial celestial navigation and the stars used. Delambre, Mason and Dixon, Gregory, Thompson, Everest- they knew a stack of stars and used ones for zenith transits that today I can barely see. I am continually astonished how they got such good results from what are in some instances low magnitude relatively obscure stars.

    As an example of the variety consider a few of the stars used by Mason and Dixon viz Hamal, Vega, Deneb, delta and gamma Cygni, eta Pleiades, Aldebaran. And for Gregory beta Centauri, alpha Cor. Borealis, Tri Aust, Vega, beta Cygni, alpha Aquilae (Altair) and what about epsilon Pegasi and zeta Aquilae. Today I wouldn't be able to find these last two in the night sky let alone get them into an artificial horizon.

     I repeat my contention that it is dangerous to suggest that stars weren't being used just because sailors weren't using them.

    Kieran Kelly

    <
    mailto:kkelly@bigpond.net.au



     
       
    Reply
    Browse Files

    Drop Files

    NavList

    What is NavList?

    Get a NavList ID Code

    Name:
    (please, no nicknames or handles)
    Email:
    Do you want to receive all group messages by email?
    Yes No

    A NavList ID Code guarantees your identity in NavList posts and allows faster posting of messages.

    Retrieve a NavList ID Code

    Enter the email address associated with your NavList messages. Your NavList code will be emailed to you immediately.
    Email:

    Email Settings

    NavList ID Code:

    Custom Index

    Subject:
    Author:
    Start date: (yyyymm dd)
    End date: (yyyymm dd)

    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site