NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Worsley's Chronometer(s)?
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 26, 08:42 -0500
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 26, 08:42 -0500
I wrote to the James Caird Society about the chronometers and here is what they had to say: The chronometer and a small watch were bequeathed to SPRI in 1943 by F.A. Worsley, with the information recorded in the accession register that they were used for navigation during the voyage of the lifeboat James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Frank Worsley recorded that "this chronometer, an excellent one of Smith's, was the sole survivor, in good working order, of the twenty-four with which we set out in the Endurance." So Frank Worsley solves this little dilemma for us himself! Best Regards Brad -----Original Message----- From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of bmorris@tactronics.com Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 5:21 PM To: NavList@fer3.com Subject: [NavList 7420] Worsley's Chronometer(s)? Gentlemen I went back and present herein the two chronometers which claim to be the one used by Worsley. Obviously, they both can't be right. This one is from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England and is a Thomas Mercer boxed, gimbaled chronometer. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.2279 This one is from the James Caird Society, a pocket watch type chronometer http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/shackleton-news.php?id=102901 The James Caird Society article also contains an image of Worsley using the sextant without an artificial horizon to check his location, while trapped in the ice. The US Navy published a book in the early 1950's called "Naval Arctic Operations Handbook" in which they indicate that this practice is feasible if you estimate the height of the ice around you and use that as your 'sea level'. Then the height of your eye above the height of the ice around you will yield the correction for dip. Best Regards Brad --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
