NavList:

Perhaps a little off topic, but in addition to my interest in celestial navigation I enjoy a little literature from time to time.  By choice that often has a nautical theme, so unsurprisingly I am a fan of Joseph Conrad.

In “Heart of Darkness” Conrad’s character Marlow discovers a book in a hut in the jungle:

“It was an extraordinary find.  Its title was, An Inquiry into some Points of Seamanship, by a man Towser, Towson – some such name – Master in his Majesty’s Navy”.

Of course the book and its author were both fictional creations of Conrad.  But as a mariner he would have been familiar with J T Towson’s work.  I do not think it a coincidence that he chose to use this name in Heart of Darkness for his fictional author of a fictional book about seamanship.

I never made the connection before this thread.

I speculate – but have evidence – that perhaps they met.  Conrad joined his first British ship in 1876, just 5 years before JTT’s death.  At the time JTT was in Liverpool and was an examiner of masters and mates and a compass expert.  Conrad was just starting to learn English (he was Polish – despite his contribution to English literature).  Conceivably their paths crossed.  Conrad was well known for using people he had encountered as characters in his writing.  One wonders…

Anyway – that is the trivia for today.