NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: William Bligh's navigation and mapping
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2016 Aug 13, 12:51 -0400
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2016 Aug 13, 12:51 -0400
On Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Henry Halboth <NoReply_Halboth@fer3.com> wrote:
Greg,Bligh's Narrative was first publishd in 1792 and republished unabridged in 1936 by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., With respect to equipment Bligh had at his disposal, I quote the following excerpt ............"Mr. Samuel got 150 lb. of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, also a quadrant and compass, but he was fobidden. on pain of death, to touch either map, ephemeris, book of astronomical observtions, sextant, timekeeper, or any of my surveys or drawings."
Bligh was being clever with his words, listing only what his clerk was able to obtain. But we also have the written narratives of James Morrison and John Fryer,
From James Morrison:
'after Mr. Bligh was In the Boat he beggd for His Commission and Sextant; the Commission was Instantly Given him with his Pocket Book and private Journal by Mr. Christians order, and He took His own Sextant which Commonly Stood on the Dripstone Case and Handed it into the Boat with a Daily Assistant [Moore's Practical Navigator and Daily Assistant], saying 'there Captain Bligh this is sufficient for evry purpose and you know the Sextant to be a good one'.
The sextant was Bligh's Ramsden B which he had been using for the previous few weeks aboard Bounty.
John Fryer in his narrative describes helping midshipman Hallet bring his chest on deck so that he could take some of his possessions into the launch.
'... we look into [Hammilton Moors?] Book — and likewise the Requisite Tables — which where [were] in the Boat belonging to Mr Hallett Midn, and found that Timor laid very little to the northward of Endeavour Straits...'
From James Morrison:
'after Mr. Bligh was In the Boat he beggd for His Commission and Sextant; the Commission was Instantly Given him with his Pocket Book and private Journal by Mr. Christians order, and He took His own Sextant which Commonly Stood on the Dripstone Case and Handed it into the Boat with a Daily Assistant [Moore's Practical Navigator and Daily Assistant], saying 'there Captain Bligh this is sufficient for evry purpose and you know the Sextant to be a good one'.
The sextant was Bligh's Ramsden B which he had been using for the previous few weeks aboard Bounty.
John Fryer in his narrative describes helping midshipman Hallet bring his chest on deck so that he could take some of his possessions into the launch.
'... we look into [Hammilton Moors?] Book — and likewise the Requisite Tables — which where [were] in the Boat belonging to Mr Hallett Midn, and found that Timor laid very little to the northward of Endeavour Straits...'
Other accounts reference the gunner's watch.
Don Seltzer
