NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Nautical Astronomy was different
From: Bruce Stark
Date: 2004 Oct 23, 18:17 EDT
From: Bruce Stark
Date: 2004 Oct 23, 18:17 EDT
Trevor Kenchington got it just right! If you want to understand what I've been trying to say, read his Oct. 22, 5:20 PM post.
And Ken Muldrew wrote: ". . . the 'regulation' that Bowditch is talking about doesn't involve anything more than writing down a correction to be applied to a chronometer reading when he wants to know the time (LMT)."
Well, that's the answer to the puzzle.
Jared Sherman wrote: "I suspect we seek too much of authors when we examine their words too closely. If Bowditch said 'regulate' meaning only the first half of what others would call regulating the clock...I can live with that.<G> We can understand what he means from the context."
I agree. There ARE times when "regulate" would be used by Bowditch's contemporaries the way the word is used today, but context would make it clear.
Suppose a seamstress is reading a sailing story and comes across the phrase "Trim the sheet." Since our minds are wonderfully inventive when it comes to keeping preconceptions intact, I bet she'd be able to incorporate her own definitions of "trim" and "sheet" into the story and carry on.
Bruce
And Ken Muldrew wrote: ". . . the 'regulation' that Bowditch is talking about doesn't involve anything more than writing down a correction to be applied to a chronometer reading when he wants to know the time (LMT)."
Well, that's the answer to the puzzle.
Jared Sherman wrote: "I suspect we seek too much of authors when we examine their words too closely. If Bowditch said 'regulate' meaning only the first half of what others would call regulating the clock...I can live with that.<G> We can understand what he means from the context."
I agree. There ARE times when "regulate" would be used by Bowditch's contemporaries the way the word is used today, but context would make it clear.
Suppose a seamstress is reading a sailing story and comes across the phrase "Trim the sheet." Since our minds are wonderfully inventive when it comes to keeping preconceptions intact, I bet she'd be able to incorporate her own definitions of "trim" and "sheet" into the story and carry on.
Bruce
