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Geoffrey, you wrote:
"He states that, "The computations were done by the usual simple
formula on p.218 of 'Hints'."
There is no reference for "Hints", which I assume is not the full
title of the book. I would be grateful if someone would give me a
full title (and author) and possibly also say what the formulae are."

I think 'Hints' is probably 'Hints to Travelers'. It's a common, even
generic, title for an explorers' guidebook. From some quick googling,
there was apparently a version published around the right time for your
reference by the Royal Geographic Society, but there were others. Today
it would have a yellow cover and be titled 'Exploration for Dummies'
(chapter one: what is latitude?, chapter two: pick a continent, chapter
three: credit cards accepted in Antarctica,...). You might also try
similar titles like 'Hints to Scientific Travellers'. The formulae are
probably the simplest you can imagine since these explorers' guidebooks
were intended for people without extensive training.

Scott of the Antarctic had a copy... which he lost! Here's an extract
from gutenberg.org:

"But in spite of being held up by wind for two days, they reached
their depot on November 1, and thought at first that everything
was safe. On examination, however, they discovered that a violent
gale had forced open the lid of the instrument box, and that several
things were missing, among which Scott found to his dismay was
the 'Hints to Travelers.'

'The gravity of this blow,' he wrote in his diary on November 1,
'can scarcely be exaggerated; but whilst I realized the blow I
felt that nothing would induce me to return to the ship a second
time; I thought it fair, however, to put the case to the others,
[Page 160]
and I am, as I expected, fortified by their willing consent to take
the risks of pushing on.'

In traveling to the west, Scott expected to be--as indeed he was--out
of sight of landmarks for some weeks. In such a case as this the
sledge-traveler is in precisely the same position as a ship or a
boat at sea: he can only obtain a knowledge of his whereabouts
by observation of the sun or stars, and with the help of these
observations he finds his latitude and longitude, but to do this a
certain amount of data is required. 'Hints to Travelers' supplies
these necessary data, and it was on this book that Scott had been
relying to help him to work out his sights and fix accurately the
position of his party. Unless he went back to the ship to make
good his loss, he was obliged to take the risk of marching into
the unknown without knowing exactly where he was or how he was to
get back. 'If,' he says, 'the loss of our "Hints to Travelers" did
not lead us into serious trouble it caused me many a bad half-hour.' "

The link to this book:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6721

-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars


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