NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Lunars
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2002 May 21, 06:19 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2002 May 21, 06:19 +0100
I am acutely aware that, having supplied 4 parts of a promised series "About Lunars", and having promised a fifth, that final part has been a long time coming, and is by now well overdue. That final part is intended to be mainly about applying the result of a lunar distance measurement (the resulting GMT) or, for that matter, the GMT reading of a chronometer, to deduce the observer's longitude. It's pleasing to be able to say that the results of valuable discussions on this list have given me a lot to mull over and have caused more than one revision of my plans for part 5. But I don't really have a good excuse. Much of the delay has been due to distraction I have caused for myself, such as the "cocked-hat" episode. Sorry about that. So if anyone is still awaiting the winding-up of "About Lunars", do not despair. It will come, but not sure exactly when. I happen to have a copy of "Popular Lectures and Addresses" (1891) by Sir William Thomson, the Scottish physicist, later Lord Kelvin of Kelvin Compass, and Kelvin Sounding Machine, fame. What I have is just part 3, on "Navigational Affairs". Thomson undertook to write a series on "Terrestrial Magnetism and the Mariner's Compass" for a magazine "Good Words", and the first part was printed in 1874. After that, five years elapsed, as Thomson realised there was so much he needed to learn, and so much research that ought to be done. It was not until five years later, in 1879, having in the meantime developed the compass which became adopted by the Admiralty and throughout the world, that Thomson felt able to complete the series in "Good Words". Now I have no wish to compare my own efforts with those of the great Thomson, but I can sympathise with his problem. All I can promise is that my series will be completed more speedily than his was. George Huxtable. ------------------------------ george@huxtable.u-net.com George Huxtable, 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. Tel. 01865 820222 or (int.) +44 1865 820222. ------------------------------