NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Transcription of Worsley's Log
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2009 Apr 25, 19:58 -0700
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2009 Apr 25, 19:58 -0700
Brad, earlier in the month you wrote: "After careful reflection, the statement should read No obs for Lat cd be obtained + Long of C.Belsham being only approximately know to us, allow 1 min 4 sec more. " That makes sense. I know it's in the files you've posted and I could look myself, but could you just give me a raw total: how many actual sights did they take on the voyage after leaving Elephant Island? And you concluded: "Thus the only "Cape Belsham" reference dates back to 1822, and is carried forward in the Sailing Directions, which state that upwards of 2 degrees of error may be found in the longitudes in the Table of Places." This was common in remote parts of the world into the early twentieth century. It's easy for us to forget today that mapping used to require an enormous amount of work on the ground. Part of the reason these expeditions of exploration were undertaken was for the simple purpose of mapping the globe. Which reminds me of an old comedy bit from the television show Blackadder... Our hero, Edmund Blackadder, has decided to go off exploring so that he can impress Queen Elizabeth (it's set c.1586 just after Sir Francis Drake has returned from distant shores with that great miracle of the cuisine of the Spanish Main: the potato... or so goes the legend). As Blackadder prepares to sail, the queen's advisor presents him with a map to aid his voyage as follows: Lord Melchett says to Blackadder: "Farewell, Blackadder! The foremost cartographers of the land have prepared this for you.. It's a map of the area you'll be traversing." Blackadder unrolls it and replies: "But it's blank!" Lord Melchett: "Yes, they'd be most grateful if you could just fill it in as you go along. Goodbye!" It still makes me laugh. -FER --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---