NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Th. Jefferson: stop wasting time on longitude
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 May 6, 05:54 -0500
Yesterday, I found a delightful letter (via google books) written by Thomas
Jefferson in 1808 telling one 'Captain Groves' that his plan to find
"longitude at sea by an observation of Jupiter and his satellites, brought to the
horizon by a double reflection" is a big waste of time and he should apply
himself to the "comfort of [his] family". TJ is very polite about it all. He notes
that he understands that the guy has written a play to raise funds for his
research (that's a script I would love to see!). Jefferson points out that the
longitude problem is solved... "fine time-keepers have been invented" and
more so by lunar distances; "every captain of a ship now understands the method
of taking these lunar observations, and of calculating his longitude by
them". Because of his personal interest in longitude, President Jefferson must
have seemed like the American equivalent of the British Board of Longitude in
that first decade of the 19th century.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
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From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 May 6, 05:54 -0500
Yesterday, I found a delightful letter (via google books) written by Thomas
Jefferson in 1808 telling one 'Captain Groves' that his plan to find
"longitude at sea by an observation of Jupiter and his satellites, brought to the
horizon by a double reflection" is a big waste of time and he should apply
himself to the "comfort of [his] family". TJ is very polite about it all. He notes
that he understands that the guy has written a play to raise funds for his
research (that's a script I would love to see!). Jefferson points out that the
longitude problem is solved... "fine time-keepers have been invented" and
more so by lunar distances; "every captain of a ship now understands the method
of taking these lunar observations, and of calculating his longitude by
them". Because of his personal interest in longitude, President Jefferson must
have seemed like the American equivalent of the British Board of Longitude in
that first decade of the 19th century.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com
To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com
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