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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Sumner and the Smalls lighthouse.
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 3, 22:20 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 3, 22:20 EST
George H asked: "So was Sumner guilty of tinkering with the position of Smalls light, to make a better story? The evidence, so far, seems to point that way." Yes, I think that's very likely. I don't have any reason to doubt that the story he tells happened the way he said it did back in 1837, but when he was writing it up a few years later, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he had to reconstruct the details to suit his memory. Also, I think it's worth remembering that the booklet he published was not a work of navigational science, but rather a bit of practical salesmanship. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
