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Lunars in literature
From: Dave Walden
Date: 2009 Jan 28, 04:24 -0800
From: Dave Walden
Date: 2009 Jan 28, 04:24 -0800
From (set in 1800):
E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders
Team (www.pgdp.net)
AFLOAT AND ASHORE
A SEA TALE
BY
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
...
CHAPTER VI.
"The yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up."
_Macbeth._
...
Many were the discussions between Captain Robbins and his two mates,
touching the error in reckoning that had led them so far from their
course. In that day, navigation was by no means as simple a thing as
it has since become. It is true, lunars were usually attempted in
India and China ships; but this was not an every-day affair, like the
present morning and afternoon observations to obtain the [LOCAL] time, and, by
means of the chronometer, the longitude. Then we had so recently got
clear of the islands, as to have no great need of any extraordinary
head-work; and the "bloody currents" had acted their pleasure with us
for eight or ten days before the loss of the ship. Marble was a very
good navigator, one of the best I ever sailed with, in spite of the
plainness of his exterior, and his rough deportment; and, all things
considered, he treated his old commander with great delicacy,
promising to do all he could, when he got home, to clear the matter
up. As for Kite, he knew but little, and had the discretion to say but
little. This moderation rendered our passage all the more agreeable.
...
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