NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2018 Nov 30, 11:56 -0800
From: Charles McElhill
Date: 2018 Nov 29, 12:52 -0800Ive been recently reading Bligh’s narrative on the Bounty’s journey. Bligh references having the time keeper examined in Spithead before the voyage and notes results of the examination as being 1’ 52”, 5 seconds too fast from meantime I’m assuming GMT
Later at the Cape of Good Hope, Bligh takes the time keeper ashore. Now just before they sail, he notes the rate of the time keeper to be 3’ 33” too slow from meantime. He does mention astronomical observations and I’m wondering how Bligh is making these determinations of time with regards to the time keeper.
Did in fact these locations have look up references for latitude and longitude or did Bligh make his own observations through Lunars and note the time keeper error based on his own observations. Bligh does seem to take note and reference tables from time to time for land marks stating table reference and the difference he observes. Bligh appears to be perplexed by compass variation almost to the point of obsessing.
Bligh states that he had taken lunar observations ashore at Simon's Bay, giving a longitude of 18° 48' 34" E, and directly compared that to to the longitude by the chronometer of 18° 47' E. He also notes that the previous published longitude was only 18° 33' E.
Don Seltzer
