NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The shipwreck of Admiral Shovell
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2007 Aug 29, 17:19 -0700
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2007 Aug 29, 17:19 -0700
The page Gary references contains photos taken after the shipwrecks. A more complete description of the actions leading up to the disaster is at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1920s/ev-1923/hondapt.htm Lu Abel glapook@PACBELL.NET wrote: > Of course, these types of errors didn't end in 1707. In 1923 seven > U.S. distroyers went on the rocks at Honda point just north of Point > Argueillo on the California coast. The fleet was steaming southbound > in fog and had reckoned that they had gone far enough south to clear > Point Conception when the order was given to alter course to the east. > It was about 9.6 NM too soon. Here is a link to that story: > > http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1920s/ev-1923/honda-8.htm > > > gl > On Aug 29, 4:22 pm, glap...@PACBELL.NET wrote: > >>Another line in the old song is "we hove our ships to for to strike >>soundings fair, in forty five fathoms with a white sandy bottom, we >>squared our main yard and up channel we flew." >> >>Shovel's fleet also hove to "for to take soundings" so what went wrong >>with the soundings? are they ambiguous in the vicinity of the >>Scillies? >> >> It does look more like a latitude problem than a longitude problem. >>If they had gone aground on the channel islands, or the Minkies or the >>Cherbourg peninsula then it would look more like a longitude problem. >>gl >> >>On Aug 27, 2:19 am, "George Huxtable">>wrote: >> >> >>>Frank wrote- >> >>>| Here's a link to the file George provided: >>>|http://fer3.com/arc/img/Clowdisley_Shovel_1707_JIN_1960.pdf >>>| >>>| For convenience, I also inserted a direct link at the end of the archive >>>| copy of the previous message. >>>| >>>| Is this article under copyright? If so, please let me know in a couple of >>>| weeks. >> >>>========================= >> >>>from George- >> >>>Thank you Frank. >> >>>I hope readers will take a serious look at it. It's a salutary tale of the >>>dreadful state of Royal Navy navigation, in 1707. How things had changed by >>>Cook's day, half a century later! >> >>>There's a decent gap, enshrined in the words of the old song, "Twixt Ushant >>>and Scilly is thirty-five leagues ...", or 105 nautical miles. That was what >>>mariners had to find their way between, and without even lighthouses, in >>>early days. In the days before longitude could be measured, they had to do >>>it by latitude sailing, taking deep soundings to establish how close in to >>>the Western channel they had got. In thick weather, even latitudes were >>>unavailable. That situation remained true, until radio aids became available >>>(in the 1930s ?). I wonder if Henry Halboth can recall approaches made >>>without even radio DF help, and how ships then managed, in prolonged thick >>>weather? >> >>>================================ >> >>>Frank asked about copyright- >> >>>Yes, that paper is only 47 years old, so I suppose that copyright >>>restrictions apply, strictly speaking, and I should really have pointed that >>>out. Readers should respect that. It has here been made available for the >>>purpose of academic discussion, but should not be disseminated further, and >>>it might be wise for Frank to make it unavailable again after it's had time >>>to serve its purpose. >> >>>George. >> >>>contact George Huxtable at geo...@huxtable.u-net.com >>>or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) >>>or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---