NavList:

George H, you wrote:
"But first, let me be clear that I'm not claiming that navigators' logs will show a preponderance of star-Moon observations. Most will be of Sun lunars, because that's the easier option. What I'm claiming is that, at times when a lunar was desirable, and a Sun lunar was unavailable, mariners were expected to be able to use a star; and did so."

Around 80-90% of lunars in the dozens of logbooks I've examined were Sun-Moon lunars. I have described this numerous times on NavList. They shot these, not because they were "expected to" but, from the logbooks I have examined, because it amused them to do so, or rarely because they had no other choice. For example, one account of lunars with stars which I wrote up for NavList was Basil Hall's tale of sailing an impounded vessel to Bermuda in 1807 under suspicion of smuggling. You can read it here:
http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx?y=200705&i=102871

You concluded:
"What we really need to compare is the log from a more ordinary trading voyage, such as one of the thousands made by the East India company somewhere round 1800. I don't have any such at hand, but will see what I can find."

Compare "the" log? No, you need to compare dozens of logbooks. Until then, your opinion is fundamentally speculation.

-FER

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