NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Frank Worsley, Master Navigator
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 23, 10:18 -0800
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 23, 10:18 -0800
Hi George I dug out my reproduction of Worsley's log for the voyage of the Caird. Frank Worsley indicates that he only had 4 fixes for the entire journey. I seem to be missing 2 pages so I can only confirm some of the data. I have written to the Museum to get this rectified and when I have all of the data I will complete the story. One further note, as George has pointed out, this data is extremely hard to read. This is not some crisp typewritten log book. On 24 April 1916, Worsley takes the lower limb of the sun at Wild Camp (on Elephant Island) for the purposes of rating the chronometer. 62 deg S, 54.5 deg W On 26 April, Worsley takes the lower limb of the sun. I haven't figured out what he does with this yet. 59 deg 46' S, 50 deg 48' W On 29 April, Worsley has an observation (not denoted) 58 deg 38' S 50 deg 0' W here is where the gap in my reproduction is...I will straighten this out! On 7 May, Worsley has 3 lower limbs of the sun, they give his position as 54 deg 26' S 40 deg 44' W, then 54 deg 23' S 39 deg 40'W and finally 54 deg 38' S 39 deg 36' W; at various times of the day On 8 May, Worsley sights land at 12:30 and gives a neat sketch of the appearance of S.Georgia Island, and denotes that there is a glacier in one mountain pass. These seem to be in agreement with Worsley's chart as presented to the group by George. Until we have that 4th observation and logbook, we will not truly know why he sailed a latitude line from 5 May to 8 May. The predominant current in the Southern Ocean there is from west to east. It appears as if he set out from Wild Camp (by his notes) NNE and sailed up until he reached the latitude of S.Georgia, and then headed due east. Best Regards Brad --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---