NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: L'Hermione en route to America next summer
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2014 Nov 22, 17:06 -0500
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2014 Nov 22, 17:06 -0500
On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 1:16 PM, Yves Robin-Jouanwrote: > Nethertheless on 1780, Captain de Latouche did not used Lunar distances for > Hermione Atlantic crossing. Indeed, neither Lunar Distances, nor marine > chronometers ! > > Captain de Latouche used only dead reckoning and sun meridian latitude. At > last, he knew that his longitude was false (due to a problem with his loch > or log) and he maintained the latitude of Boston bay during several days. > His longitude error was 295 NM when arriving at Cape Ann ! A longitude error of 295 NM is comparable to that experienced by the USS Constitution in its first Atlantic crossing, under the command of Edward Preble in 1803. Judging from the log entries, the navigation was entirely by noon latitude sights and dead reckoning for longitude. By the time they reached Spain, their reckoned position was off by 213 nautical miles. Upon entering the Mediterranean, all navigation seems to have switched to coastal piloting techniques. Don Seltzer