NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Simple celestial navigation in 1897
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 4, 18:18 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 4, 18:18 EST
You wrote: "Given Agnes' name on the flyleaf, the difference in handwriting (particulary numbers) between here and the logbook, and the strange note on page 15, "Capt Sick" (handwriting on that days entry in the logbook is quite 'shaky', while workbook handwriting appears as usual), that this is actually the Navigation Workbook of Agnes Layton?" All I have is a "best guess". Here it is: I suspect that Agnes Layton received the logbook as an heirloom. Maybe she was a daughter or grand-daughter of John and Elizabeth. The address in New Bedford makes sense then. I don't know much about the family history, but there are people at the Seaport who do know, and they could clear that up if you're interested. I believe that the calculations in the Navigation Workbook have been made by John Layton and Elizabeth Layton, though I have no other info on Elizabeth. When you get to May 12 or so in the Navigation Workbook, which is when Capt. Layton leaves the ship for "medical treatment" in Hakodate (Hokkaido, Japan), the navigation entries come to an end. I am assuming that Elizabeth Layton has also gone to Hakodate. The logbook, meanwhile, continues. So at least during that period in May and June, the log is being kept probably by the First Mate, Horace Tower. There's a minor mutiny over the new command. It is possible that the logbook was kept by different people, Capt. Layton first, then Tower. It is also possible that it was Tower's logbook all along with direction from Capt. Layton while he was in command. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars