Next message: Fred Hebard: "Re: Lunars: Three simultaneous observations"
George H wrote:
"It must, I suspect, be the biggest error ever to have been made, and then
corrected, by the hydrographer. I wonder what it was about "Maria
Theresa"'s log which caused the reef to be entered on the chart nearly 1000
miles too far West."
I don't know, but I'll see if I can find the logbook. It's probably at one of
the three main whaling museums in New England. Some pure speculation: even in
the 1840s, Yankee whalers often kept longitude by dead reckoning during
certain parts of their voyages; for example, when they were sailing back and forth
in whaling season in wide open ocean.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
