NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: How Worsley Navigated
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2009 Mar 4, 10:15 -0400
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2009 Mar 4, 10:15 -0400
Hey, it's a lot better than soaps. I'm following you two with great inerest. -Hewitt On 3/3/09, George Huxtablewrote: > > Brad has kindly sent further transcribed pages, from Worsley's log of the > Caird voyage, and I propose to do my best to decode them. Now we have > largely cracked the working of one observation, I expect the others will > follow without too much hassle. > > But there are quite a few pages, so this is likely to run and run. > > Which leads me to this question. Is this a dialogue just between Brad and > me, or is anyone else taking an interest? If anyone else is following the > matter, please post a note to say so (even just one such request will do). > Otherwise we will, if Brad agrees, take the discussion off-list. > > I've been following up a few contacts. I have an old friend who has actually > crossed South Georgia, in Shackleton's tracks, about 25 years ago. He has > alerted me to a publicatation, in a Geographical Journal, of an article > describing a survey of Elephant Island in 1970, with fold-out map. I hope a > copy will arrive soon. He has also pointed me to a book by Dunnett, founder > of the James Caird Society, called "Shackleton's Boat", ISBN 0948028025. > This appears to be now out of print, and available second-hand (from the US, > mostly) at an eye-watering price. I've located a copy that's a bit less > eye-watering, and hope to see it soon. I am told that it contains > transcriptions from the Worsley log (about which more anon). > > I've also made some enquiries of my own at Canterbury Museum, where the > original log is held. Explaining my interest, I asked if anyone else had > analysed those observations, as there's no point in the same thing being > done twice. They told me that an American had made enquiries , back in > November, and kindly offered to put us in touch. This evening, he phoned me, > and it turns out to be a navigator with whom I had had dealings some years > ago, concerning the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a small world we > occupy, those interested in celestial nav. It turns out that he has a copy > of the Dunnett book, in which he tells me that Worsley's log has been > incompetently transcribed, by someone who clearly had no idea what all those > numbers meant. Anyway, he and I and Brad seem to be thinking along similar > lines. I will try to entice him into Navlist. > > > George. > contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk > or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) > or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---