NavList:

Here is the quote from the article:

"....(Cook) consulted the British Nautical Almanac to determine at what time the angular distance would be the same if observed from Greenwich."

Robin Stuart wrote:

"It would make little sense to do the extra work and convert to topocentric lunar distances for Greenwich, England as the article implies."

Frank Reed replied

"Just to be clear here, the article does not say that. Implies? Even that's a stretch. "

Well Frank, it is pretty clear to me that the implication from that quoted line from the article is that Robin Stuart has the right of it. There is no other interpretation other than the good Captain Cook was using the NA to determine at what time he would have measured the same angular distance if he had been observing at Greenwich (Observatory), and then declaring that as the (Greenwich) time he made the measurement in the Polynesian Islands (or wherever)

How do you interpret it?

Geoffrey Kolbe