NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Robin Stuart
Date: 2019 Feb 8, 09:47 -0800
Adrian,
Thanks for pointing this out. In Shackleton's Boat Journey Worsley writes:
"My navigation books had to be half-opened, page by page, till the right one was reached, then opened carefully to prevent utter destruction. The epitome had had the cover, front and back pages washed away, while the Nautical Almanac shed its pages so rapidly before the onslaught of the seas that it was a race whether or not the month of May would last to South Georgia."
The last noon sight reduction in the log was made on 13 May, 1916 from the southern shore of South Georgia. Apparently the page shedding continued beyond that date.
For reference I attach a pristine version (available here) of the front page of the almanac shown on the James Caird Society website.
Robin Stuart
