NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: No Lunars Era
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Dec 7, 15:36 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Dec 7, 15:36 EST
I wrote earlier:
> There were PLENTY of people who could have been sent on that
> expedition who had extensive practical experience with lunars. Hell,
> they could have sent Nathaniel Bowditch! The failure of the navigation
> observations on the Lewis & Clark expedition was a travesty, plain and
> simple.
> expedition who had extensive practical experience with lunars. Hell,
> they could have sent Nathaniel Bowditch! The failure of the navigation
> observations on the Lewis & Clark expedition was a travesty, plain and
> simple.
And Fred H replied:
"I don't agree. So what if they got the longitudes screwed up? They
managed to do the most important thing, help the U.S. lay claim all the
way to the Pacific north of California. The rivers they navigated were
unambiguous; there was no need for the lunars to specify which rivers
they were on.
They also managed to excite a great number of people about the
Louisiana Purchase and foster colonization of all that land, leading
the way to Fort Astoria and the Oregon Trail."
"I don't agree. So what if they got the longitudes screwed up? They
managed to do the most important thing, help the U.S. lay claim all the
way to the Pacific north of California. The rivers they navigated were
unambiguous; there was no need for the lunars to specify which rivers
they were on.
They also managed to excite a great number of people about the
Louisiana Purchase and foster colonization of all that land, leading
the way to Fort Astoria and the Oregon Trail."
Surely, Fred, you do not think I was suggesting that the entire expedition
was worthless. You might consider this though: what WAS the real reason for
instructing L&C to make exacting observations for latitude and longitude?
There was some specific objective, above and beyond the otherwise highly
successful exploration. And considering the abject failure of most of those
navigational observations, what was the damage done to that specific
objective?
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois