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Although agreeing with much of Geoffrey Kolbe's recent posting, I wonder
about the basis for this statement-

 Never-the-less, such a navigator
| actually thought that a good navigator was someone who did not need the
| tools of the 'new navigation' and the true art of the navigator was to
know
| his position from dead reckoning alone.

and the following-

| Joshua Slocum is often cited as a great navigator, sailing his little boat
| 'Spray' around the world in the 1890s. However, his book "Sailing alone
| around the world" is nothing less than a celebration of the art of dead
| reckoning and it is clear that Slocum thought that a "good navigator"
| should not need to resort to celestial fixes to keep himself found.

I wonder. It's some time since I last read Slocum, but I seem to recall that
he says frustratingly little about his navigation. For his dead reckoning,
did he refer anywhere to towing or streaming any sort of log, or did he,
just like many old salts, simply guess his boat speed? That can be done with
good accuracy, once the craft is familiar, and I reckon I can do it rather
well with my own. But "Spray" was steering herself according to the wind,
not by compass, and her course must have been somewhat uncertain during the
periods when Slocum slept. So I doubt if his dead reckoning could have been
all that precise.

Discounting that one lunar, it's clear that Slocum had to rely dead
reckoning for his longitudes. But is Geoffrey also claiming that he used
dead reckoning, rather than noon Sun altitudes, for his latitudes? That I
would find hard to accept.

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.


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