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I've changed the threadname in an attempt to widen this discussion.

Frank wrote: "In which of these periods would you look to find a
functionally illiterate whaling captain? The Charles W. Morgan had one (who
still kept a logbook, by the way)..."

Perhaps he would make an interesting study. Can Frank provide a pointer to
information about him or his logs?

======================

But there's a wider question, applying not just to whaling voyages. Can we
judge a navigator by the logs he keeps?

In a modern context, with an officer handling navigation handing over to
another at the end of his watch, it's vital that the passage gets recorded
in a way that's familiar and understandable to all. But in sailing-ship
days, it was up the the "old man" whether or not navigation was shared, and
for many, it was certainly not shared. Navigational knowledge and decisions
were kept strictly to himself, and he was on-call, day or night, if anything
came up. In practical terms, the voyage was recorded in a way that only he
needed to follow, unless a report was demanded by a shipping-office after
each voyage. How he kept a log was up to him, and standards varied greatly.

It's similar, in many ways, to my own situation, as a small-craft leisure
sailor, though I wouldn't want to make comparisons between my own short
coastal jaunts and real ocean voyaging. For the lst 40 years or so, in a
26-footer, my wife Joan and I have knocked about the coasts along both sides
of English Channel, the Atlantic coast of Brittany, and the narrow end of
the North Sea. These are tricky waters with strong tides and rocky coasts,
but don't involve long passages out of sight of land, the longest being a
couple of nights and a day between them. Until recent years, we've done
without electronic aids, except for radio direction finding.

My cruising friends, most of them, keep beautiful logs, with every detail
carefully recorded, in such a way that they can relive their voyages years
later. Most likely, Navlist members who go cruising are in the same boat. I
rather envy them.

My own logs, however, are a disgrace to navigation, and always have been.

A log of my voyage may start with good intentions; Joan will note down a
shipping forecast for the areas involved, I will note the times the Channel
tidal stream will reverse. The moment of leaving harbour, and a reading of
the Walker log, will probably be entered in. But then, it falls to pieces...

For the next few hours after departure, until landmarks or coastal lights
vanish, the occasional round of compass bearings will be taken, and three
(if possible) numbers will be noted in the margin of the relevant chart, and
corrected (mentally) for variation. The resulting triangle will be sketched
in, with the time and the log reading, also on the chart, but not noted on
the log.

By this stage, a few vectors, combining boat speed and tide, will have been
be predicted by estimation (not drawing or calculation) and sketched in on
the chart.

The mackerel line would be trolled astern, during which time the Walker log
had to come in, or the two would tangle: so mileage became guesswork.

We have good (if old) Admiralty chart coverage of the area, and by the end
of the first day out, switching from one chart to the next, notes of
progress might be scattered over four or five successive charts, with a few
plots of Radio DF bearings, (in the days when those existed). It worked,
sort-of, because I could usually find my numbers scribbled on the charts
when necessary, and because if I'd been struck by a thunderbolt, Joan
understands my methods (or lack of) to pick up the plot herself. Since GPS
was adopted, my record-keeping has if anything become even more casual.

When, at the end, the anchor went down, that would get noted in the logbook.
After the cruise ended, all pencil marks would be erased from the charts,
and little record of the trip would remain.

There. Confession over. I feel better already...

And yet- Was the navigation itself of a low standard, even if my record of
it was? I doubt it. In 40 years of coastal cruising, I've only once known my
position to have gone dangerously amiss, a situation I escaped from with no
more than loss-of-face. Does that show complacency? Perhaps.

The conclusion I would draw, that you're free to disagree with, is that the
standard of log keeping is not necessarily a good guide to the standard of
navigation.

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


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