NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2015 Apr 16, 15:28 -0700
John Manjiro translated Nathaniel Bowditch's "New American Practical Navigator" into Japanese in the 1850s (as far as I know, the only full translation of the book into another language). Who was he? We've discussed him before in NavList messages, but for now, you can learn more about him by watching the Kickstarter video by my colleague Ger Tysk here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gltysk/manjiro. She has written a book about John Manjiro's life, and is working on a Kickstarter campaign for an initial publication run. The video on the page explains it very nicely. Like me, Ger Tysk was one of the invited scholars/enthusiasts/fanatics or "Voyagers" aboard the whaleship Charles W. Morgan last summer during the "38th Voyage" along the coast of New England. I consider this a worthy cause, so please consider kicking a little donation to her publication project.
Frank Reed
Conanicut Island USA
PS: In the background of the first screen cap below, you can see the masts of vessels at Mystic Seaport over Ger Tysk's shoulder, including the masts of the Charles W. Morgan. You'll notice that the Mystic River estuary is some sort of solid white mass, almost like a glacier. This is what happens to salt water when you leave it out in the cold for too long... for far, far, far too long!
