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It has been a long time since I posted to the list but I continue to
follow the many interesting threads. Maybe I'll have more time to
participate again soon, work has been demanding. I promise that
eventually I will catch up on updating www.LunarDistance.com with links
to the more recent lunar discussions and to the great new material and
tools Frank has provided.
I do want to put in a request for information about Pitcairn Island. On
my mother's side of my family, we have long been told that the captain
of the sealing vessel that found the mutineers on Pitcairn was Mayhew
Folger, reportedly a "seventh great uncle" of my generation. This was
passed on to me by a great aunt who was reasonably credible based on her
interest in Pitcairn and family genealogy.
Can anyone at least confirm that Mayhew Folger commanded the sealing
vessel? I would be most interested to hear any other information about
Folger, his ship and voyage (out of Nantucket according to family lore),
and where I might be able to find source material about him. I don't
dare hope that his log might be part of Frank's wonderful on-line
archive, and I can't help but wonder if he practiced lunars.
-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Frank Reed
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 10:54 PM
To:
Subject: Re: on finding Pitcairn Island
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
