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Fred Hebard wrote-

| I looked at the figure.

Fred, I hope you read May's paper, too. It tells you a lot more.

| If they could have had a good longitude,
| they would have been better off.

Of course, that's true; it would help. But when you look at the spread in
their deduced latitudes, of a group of ships who were all sailing together,
and realise that within a few hours they had actually arrived at the
latitude of the Scillies, it's clear that errors in latitude were the real
problem.

| It doesn't matter if you're at the
| latitude of the Scillies if you're not also at their longitude.

That's true as well. But in those days, ships were ignorant of their
longitude, and KNEW they were ignorant of it. In which case, they had no
business to be anywhere near as far North as the latitude of the Scillies,
until they had firmly established, by soundings, that they were further East
than the Lizard. That was established practice, for vessels approaching the
Channel from the West.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


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