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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
A lunar eclipse in 1844
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Dec 31, 22:45 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Dec 31, 22:45 EST
From a journal kept by a minister on his way to Hawaii from New England
aboard the whaleship Morrison:
November 24, 1844--
"Having sat up this evening until near 10 o. clock in hope of being able to
see the Eclipse, & the clouds being still dense & apparently growing
denser I must retire without the privilege. With us it commences abo ut 9 o.
clock in the evening; our friends at home if favored with a clear sky will be
enjoying the sight at an early hour & will have no occasion to sit up for
it. The absolute time will of course be the same & I had anticipated much
pleasure from the re flection that we should be viewing it simultaneously &
be reminded of each other by the phenomenon. But at this moment when the
obscuration at home is commencing we are driving before a high wind; and,
beneath a cloudy sky accompanied with rain & for, ar e making headway at the
rate of eight or ten miles an hour. Bidding all my friends who may now be gazing
at the scene good night, I will therefore resign myself for a few hours to "find
nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,,
A.M. clear. P.M. Cloudy - Wind N.N.E. Course S.E. by E. Lat. 36..45' S. Long 1..21' W. "
A.M. clear. P.M. Cloudy - Wind N.N.E. Course S.E. by E. Lat. 36..45' S. Long 1..21' W. "
I thought it was fun to see a 19th century writer aboard a ship at sea
hoping for the same sort of eclipse-viewing experience that people enjoy today
--watching the same event at the same "absolute time", as he puts it, from
points thousands of miles apart.
This minister also experimented with lunars on several occasions
on the voyage and at one point commented that he prefered Bowditch's Second
Method because it was the shortest. The captain of the Morrison apparently
prefered Turner's Tables which are very similar.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars