NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Lunars in literature
From: Greg R_
Date: 2009 Jan 30, 15:28 -0800
From: Greg R_
Date: 2009 Jan 30, 15:28 -0800
Hewitt Schlerethwrote: > sounds like MD may be digitized and sitting somewhere searchable. > How do I go about it? Would this work for you? http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2701 -- GregR --- On Fri, 1/30/09, Hewitt Schlereth wrote: > From: Hewitt Schlereth > Subject: [NavList 7202] Re: Lunars in literature > To: NavList@fer3.com > Date: Friday, January 30, 2009, 2:56 PM > Has anyone searched Moby Dick for lunars, noon sight or > sextant? If > not, sounds like MD may be digitized and sitting somewhere > searchable. > How do I go about it? > > Hewitt > > On 1/30/09, George Huxtable wrote: > > > > Clearly, Google Books has been busy of late > digitising American popular > > fiction of the 19th century, and d walden has had > some fun searching out > > references to lunars. > > > > A repeated theme seems to be the rough-and-ready > American mariner, rejecting > > such gimmicks as lunars and chronometers. > > > > And that seems to have had a resonance in real life, > to judge by an account > > by Silvio A Bedini, chronicler of American > technology. He quotes from > > Samuel Eliot Morison,s "The Maritime History of > Massachusetts 1783-1860" > > (1921), who noted that even in the early nineteenth > century, the position of > > a ship was generally still determined by dead > reckoning with the use of only > > a compass, log line, and deep-sea lead. Among > examples of Atlantic voyages > > made by American vessels using these traditional > methods, he reported that > > an American vessel was seized at Christiansand, > Norway, because she had > > arrived in port without chart or sextant. The ship > was freed only after > > other American shipmasters in the port protested that > they frequently sailed > > the width of the Atlantic without those aids, > claiming that any comptent > > seaman could do so." > > > > And such seat-of-the-pants navigation seems to have > applied particularly to > > American whalers. Although I can't now recall > chaper and verse, I've read > > several accounts of merchant vessels being > "spoken" by New England whalers, > > asking for a position, who hardly knew what ocean > they were in. Of course, > > whalers were a rather special case. They would make > incredible voyages from > > New England ports, right through the Pacific and into > the Bering Straits, > > away for four years or so, only sighting land on the > passage round the Horn, > > and sometimes not even then. In mid-ocean, they > didn't really care exactly > > where they were, not making a passage from A to B, > but simply wandering in > > search of "fish". If these were Sperm > whales, these could be anywhere on the > > world's oceans. > > > > George. > > > > contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk > > or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) > > or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 > 5HX, UK. > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---