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From: Bruce Stark (no email)
Date: Sun Aug 08 2004 - 20:30:51 EDT
I'm still not with you, Frank.
I wrote: [Rios's method] "is similar to Bowditch's first method, before that
was improved . . ."
You wrote: "Isn't that backwards? The method of Mendoza Rios came first.
Moore included it in his navigation manual as the 'First Method', and Bowditch
'inherited' it, to put it politely."
I wrote: ". . . take a closer look at that method in Moore you attribute to
Rios. You'll find it to be a version of Lions, not Rios."
You wrote: "No doubt we're talking about different editions of Moore. The
edition which Blunt republished c. 1800 (with Bowditch consulting at first)
listed the method of Mendoza Rios as the first method."
That's true, Frank. I was talking about Moore's New Practical Navigator. You
were talking about America's pirated version of it. I have a 1796 and an 1804
Moore in front of me. Both appear to be the real thing. Neither has the method
you attribute to Rios.
But, I understand from you the 1800 American version does have it. That seems
right to me. Bowditch is said to have invented the method on his first
voyage. He left Salem in January 1795, and returned a year later. It seems
reasonable to suppose he would have sent a letter explaining the method to the Royal
Society of London sometime during the voyage.
Bowditch shouldn't be held responsible for the nonsense others have written
about him. If you understand the methods and situations of the times, as you
surely do, and read what HE has to say, you'll find he gives due credit to
others, and the claims he makes for his own contributions are not overblown.
Bruce
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