NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The Sun does not stop for anyone
From: Bob Goethe
Date: 2016 Dec 30, 11:05 -0800
From: Bob Goethe
Date: 2016 Dec 30, 11:05 -0800
Gary's comments about Bowditch encouraged me to do a word search on "Mercator" in my copy of the 2002 edition. In §2603, it says, "If plotting sheets are not available, a Mercator plotting sheet can be contructed through either of two alternative methods based on a graphical solution of the secant of the latitude, which approximates the expansion of latitude." The second method they outline involves building a universal plotting sheet that looks rather like the VP-OS sheet.
The editors of Bowditch may be wrong in their understanding of the connotations of "Mercator". But if my worst error in life were to be that I treated Bowditch as an authority on navigational matters, I would go my grave a contented man.
Bob
