NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Mid XIX century Nav
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Nov 22, 21:36 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Nov 22, 21:36 EST
George H wrote: "But I'm not so convinced about the practicality, for a ship's navigator, of timing Moon culminations" I agree. I wouldn't expect any ordinary navigator in the 19th century to do anything like this. Rather, I would expect a typical navigator with a chronometer to test it by ordinary time sights from the first port with a trusted longitude, perhaps supplemented by occasional lunars while in regions with uncertain longitudes. But, if this was putatively a voyage of "exploration" (as it seems to have been, at least in theory), then I would expect you might have an observer with greater astronomical skill. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
