NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Sue Howell's "Practical Celestial Navigation"
From: Phil Guerra
Date: 2003 Dec 18, 19:55 -0600
From: Phil Guerra
Date: 2003 Dec 18, 19:55 -0600
Frank,
I want to thank you for the insight you gave of Sue
Howell. While I'm just a deskbound navigator-wannabee, I found her book
very easy to follow, and it helped me understand the subject
finally.
I knew that she was lost at sea, and I was sad that
I could not tell her in a thank-you note that her book had helped me along my
studies.
Here's to her. Cheers!
Phil Guerra
----- Original Message -----From: Frank ReedSent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 8:19 PMSubject: Sue Howell's "Practical Celestial Navigation"I've been digging through the archives for this list in the past few days, and I noticed a few people have used Sue Howell's "Practical Celestial Navigation" as their celestial navigation primer. I knew Susan Howell in the late 70s (when I was a teenager and a rank beginner at celestial navigation). Her textbook is still used to teach the few students interested in celestial navigation at Mystic Seaport.
Sue Howell was celestial navigation instructor aboard the sail training vessel Marques which was lost north of Bermuda in June of 1984... She was a very funny, intelligent woman. The navigation classroom at the Planetarium at Mystic Seaport was named in her memory.
Last year, an excellent account of the tragedies of four "tall ships" was published. It's "Tall Ships Down" by Daniel Parrot. I highly recommend it. It covers Pamir, Albatross, Marques, Pride of Baltimore, and Maria Asumpta with interesting attention to the science of marine engineering and stability. The story of Marques is central to the book's theme. Incidentally, the Albatross, whose sinking was made a little famous in the film "White Squall", was also a Mystic, CT vessel. Her home port was here before she was lost in 1961 (before my time).
Frank E. Reed
[X] Mystic, Connecticut
[ ] Chicago, Illinois
