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Lighting above deck.
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2001 Nov 17, 11:57 AM
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2001 Nov 17, 11:57 AM
Lighting above deck . Nights at sea can be long, and are often very, very dark. Yet some lighting is necessary for various nautical purposes. How was this contrived, in the past? Can anyone offer useful references? Here are some of the questions for which I seek answers. They cover a wide range in time. The most vital need for continuous light was to illuminate the compass. Eve Taylor, in "The Haven-finding Art" (my edition is 1971) quote Guyot of Provins (about 1205) as follows- "... they lay the needle in a straw and simply place it in water, where the straw makes it float. Its point then turns exactly to the star. There is never any doubt about it, it will never deceive. When the sea is dark and misty, so that neither star nor Moon can be seen, they put a light beside the needle, and then they know their way ..." For practical use as a steering compass, on a wild night out on deck, the illuminating flame and the compass needle would need to be protected from the wind, in some sort of binnacle. When was such a box introduced? Would it have a glass view-port? For striking time by the ship's bell, often in the fore part of the vessel, at half-hour intervals, the timing would presumably be done by a half-hour sandglass. Was this sandglass kept by the binnacle so that it could be seen by the light of its candle, and turned at the appropriate time? Or, to avoid a sometimes-dangerous journey through the ship's waist, would another lantern be kept burning at the fo'c'sle? What form would that lantern take? Perhaps it was possible for the watchman on the foredeck to feel or hear when the motion of the sand in the glass had ceased, without need for light. But to me, this seems unlikely in the rough-and-tumble of a windy night at sea. Streaming the log was arranged so that it could be done in the dark, as there was a leather tag to denote the start of timing, and then the knots could be sensed and counted, by feel as the logline passed through the hand. But where did they keep the glass (28 or 30 seconds), used for sensing the time, and how was it lit? For latitude measurements of altitude of the Pole star, how was the measuring scale illuminated? Presumably a sextant or octant were compact enough to be brought below, if the cabin was illuminated, to be read there, and if care was taken might retain its reading undisturbed on that short journey. Perhaps a cross-staff could be treated in the same way. For all these instruments, some view of the horizon was necessary, so they would not be used for altitudes in the darkest period of the night. However, such observations would require deep twilight, so that some illumination of the scale would be necessary. In earlier days, a mariner's astrolabe would (I suggest) have to be read on deck, and at night it would presumably require some sort of wind-shielded lantern to provide that light. When were suitable candles and candle-lanterns developed, and when did the trade of ship-chandler begin? These are some questions that I am pondering, Can any reader help in pointing me toward answers? 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. ------------------------------