NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Shovell disaster: was- Old question - need summary
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Oct 26, 20:07 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Oct 26, 20:07 +0100
Thanks to Douglas Denny for providing a useful link to- http://www.hmssurprise.org/Resources/SIR_CLOUDESLEY_SHOVELL.html which I was unaware of, and contains much information that I hadn't seen before. The most analytical investigation that I know of was made by W E May and has been offered to the list before. But here it is once again. It makes enlightening reading, about the abysmal state of navigation of the Royal Navy at the start of the 18th century. It seems clear that ignorance of longitude played only a minor part in the disaster. The fleet had no business to be as far North as it was. John Huth was interested to learn whether the list arrived at any sort of agreed consensus on the matter. Such is the nature of this list that such an outcome seldom arises, and didn't in this case. Sobel's book gave credence to several unlikely folk-legends about the event, retelling them as if they were fact, but then she was no more than a journalist, writing entertainment, and her own opinions about any navigational matters need not be taken too seriously. George. contact George Huxtable, at george{at}hux.me.uk or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.