NavList:

   

Reply

Brad, you wrote:
"Secondly, neither George nor myself can establish with absolute certainty 
where he took his observation.  Point Wild is an assumption.  It makes 
logical sense, as, from their own accounts, it was very difficult to move 
over land in the Antarctic.  Point Wild was the location of the camp.  Most 
likely the observation was there but agreed, we can't prove it."

As George points out, while we can't quite "prove" the point of observation, 
we hardly need to: on that rugged island it's highly unlikely that they 
travelled anywhere beyond the immediate vicinty of the camp for sights.
 
You wrote:
"Here is what has occurred to me.  When Worsley wanted to know his DLo to Cape 
Belsham, he first had to determine WHICH point was Cape Belsham.  It is not 
like there was a big sign over it, with an arrow saying "Cape Belsham Here".  
 I have found a map from 1912, a German Stieler map, of the Antarctic 
Peninsula.  I attach it herein.  While I make no pretense about this being 
the one that Worsley used, it does offer a suggestion.  Elephant Island was 
not a highly explored location.  Suppose for a moment, that the prominent 
Cape that Worsley selected was the one just to the south of Buskin Rocks on 
the later chart.  That IS about 16 arc minutes away!   If we accept this 
theory, then all the reductions and chronometer error determinations make 
sense."

Yes, this is an EXCELLENT idea. When I first looked at the recent chart of 
Elephant Island and saw that little promontory labeled Cape Belsham, I 
thought, "odd... not much of a cape!" But the great cusp-like headland that 
you've noticed does fit that designation a little better. 

And you wrote:
"We all look at the modern charts and say, that's Cape Belsham. Its labeled."

Who's this 'all' ?? ;-) Toponyms have a tendency to bounce around when there 
is no local population to fix them in place. Even when there IS a local 
population, toponyms sometimes get transferred through misunderstanding or 
just "common usage". 

So where was Cape Belsham supposed to be originally?? Here's a passage from 
the "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838 to 1842":
"The 7th [of March, 1839] commenced with rain and snow. The wind was light and 
from the westward; it gradually hauled to the southwestward and blew fresh. 
While making all way to the northward, the fog lifted, and high land was 
reported within a short distance of us. A few moments more, and we should 
have been wrecked. This proved to be Elephant Island. We found from its 
position that we had been set upwards of fifty miles to the eastward, in the 
last four days, by the current. We passed to leeward of it. The sea was too 
high to attempt a landing. In the afternoon it cleared, and from our 
observations we found Cape Belsham, its EASTERN POINT [my emphasis], well 
placed. We passed between it and Cornwallis Island. The Seal Rocks were also 
seen and observed upon.
Elephant Island is high and of volcanic appearance; its valleys were filled with ice and snow."

So unquestionably Cape Belsham has been identified with different spots on 
Elephant Island over the past 170 years. 

You concluded:
"Worsley looked at a pile of rocks under great adversity and (MAYBE) said, 
Cape Belsham is that large prominent point down the coast, not this pile of 
little pile rocks."

Yes, I do think you have an excellent hypothesis here. IF his published source 
of longitudes was not much in error, then if he identified that headland as 
Cape Belsham, the discrepancy is resolved.

I have one other question for you: is there any possibility that the reference 
to distance from Cape Belsham is the "point of departure" for the navigation? 
Does he use the phrase "Cape Belsham, from which we take our departure" (or 
similar)? I ask because this almost always was done some distance off-shore 
--from the last spot where the distance to land is considered reliable. I 
have assumed that this is not the case (that we're talking about the actual 
observations on shore), but I haven't read through everything you've posted 
on this.

-FER




--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc
To post, email NavList@fer3.com
To , email NavList-@fer3.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

   

Reply