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Re: H.O. 203/204, Littlehales, Hydrographic Engineer
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2017 Mar 22, 19:35 -0700

Brad Morris, you wrote:
"In fact, the three references you specify are specified by Littlehales."

Yes, and I think it's extremely likely that Cotter got those references from that very footnote. Cotter was a library researcher, not a primary source historian.

And you asked:
"If you are a French speaker, would you mind translating the lengthy title of the Lalande work."

I'm sure others will offer their versions. There are "literal" translations and "sense" translations. Here's mine which is somewhere between:

"Epitome of Navigation: historical, theoretical, and practical, in which are found the principles of maneuver and piloting, the most simple methods of voyaging at sea by latitude and longitude, with horary tables for determining the true time by the altitude of the sun and stars at all times of the year and at all latitudes up to 61°"

I had to think for a bit on the translation of that first word "Abrégé" but when "epitome" popped into my head, I realized it was ideal (and an echo of all those discussions of Worsley's epitome!). The expression "horary tables for determining the true time" is what we know today as "tables for local apparent time" or "sundial time". These were lookup tables for "time sights" in other words. Certainly no big deal though a lot of work for the compiler.

There's a brief description of HO 203/204 in Mixter's famous Primer of Navigation which was first published in 1940. He describes them as "popular when first published" but "obsolete" at the time of writing (late 1930s). See attached chapter from his Primer.

Frank Reed

File:
Mixter-on-methods-(1940).pdf

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