NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Mid XIX century Nav
From: Herbert Prinz
Date: 2005 Nov 28, 23:21 -0500
From: Herbert Prinz
Date: 2005 Nov 28, 23:21 -0500
Frank Reed wrote:
>It's interesting that the Russian chart, published in
>German, is already referencing longitudes to Greenwich at this early date.
>
>
Krusenstern explains why. I quote freely from memory from his "Voyage
around the world, 1803-06". He says he could have used Petersburg, but
there are already so many meridians in use by _astronomers_: Greenwich,
Paris, Ferro ("under which, in truth, hides the one of Paris"),
Washington; the Spanish have at least two meridians, the Portugese and
Germans have their own, etc. For _navigators_, this is a potential
source of confusion and dangerous. Two of those meridians are practical
for navigators, because the corresponding ephemerides are readily
available: Greenwich and Paris. If you look at the political situation
in which Krusenstern is operating, it's clear why he has to go for
Greenwich. I assume that by doing so he established a quasi standard
from which to deviate afterwards nobody had good justification.
Herbert Prinz
