NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Backing & Hauling in Slocum
From: Bill Noyce
Date: 2003 Dec 17, 11:00 -0500
From: Bill Noyce
Date: 2003 Dec 17, 11:00 -0500
I was interested in the use of "drew" and "hauled" to describe the change in wind direction in this passage (in the southern hemisphere). > The phenomena of ocean meteorology were interesting studies even here > in the trade-winds. I observed that about every seven days the wind > freshened and drew several points farther than usual from the direction > of the pole; that is, it went round from east-southeast to > south-southeast, while at the same time a heavy swell rolled up from > the southwest. All this indicated that gales were going on in the > anti-trades. The wind then hauled day after day as it moderated, till > it stood again at the normal point, east-southeast. This is more or > less the constant state of the winter trades in latitude 12? S., where > I "ran down the latitude" for weeks. Seems like we were debating the terms used in this situation a while ago, though I don't remember whether we reached a conclusion. Slocum seems to feel "drew" needs explanation, while "hauled" is treated as self-evident, though perhaps it's just obvious that it's the reverse of the prior motion. -- Bill