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Argument Side One:  The log books present are not representative of all sailing whaling voyages.

Argument Side Two: All log books show careful navigation.

Question 1: If an illiterate captain kept a log book, what would it show?  I 
suggest nothing, since he is illiterate.  By definition, there would be no 
log book.

Question 2: If an illiterate captain did not keep a log book, would that stop 
him from navigating?  I suggest no, he still could navigate.  True, he would 
have great difficulty understanding the written directions, but once he 
understood what to do, he could do it.

It is clear that Frank is truthfully reporting, the log books he has 
investigated show navigation.  I believe Frank.  His statement is true.  Even 
an illiterate captain could navigate, once shown the monkey see monkey do 
behavior required.

George, however, makes a valid point.  Just because every log book 
investigated shows navigation, doesn't mean that every captain navigated.

Both gentlemen have valid points, but the fundamental argument that all 
captains must have navigated because all log books show navigation fails the 
logic test.  The primary example used at the university for this one goes 
like this.  "Whenever it rains, the streets are wet.  The streets are wet, 
therefore, it rained."   There could be other reasons the streets are wet, 
rain is not the only cause.  

 It is clear that there is an economic incentive to be able to navigate.  Your 
product gets to market faster, etc.  But there is no requirement to be able 
to do so.  There can be no proof that EVERY captain navigated, just some of 
them did, because some of them were literate and left log books.  All we need 
to disprove the statement that every captain navigated is to find one who did 
not.  And that one may have not left a log book which demonstrated his 
incompetence.

I am finding it difficult to find the truth in the definition of navigation 
here.  Is the implication that the whaling captains did not determine 
latitude?  Are we just discussing the determination of the longitude?  With 
the regular trade betwixt the old world and the new, well prior to the 
solving of the longitude, it is clear that captains were navigating without 
this determination.  Are we saying that those captains did not navigate?

Best Regards
Brad



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