Next message: Frank Reed: "Re: Simple celestial navigation in 1897"
You wrote:
"Given Agnes' name on the flyleaf, the difference in handwriting
(particulary numbers) between here and the logbook, and the strange note on page 15,
"Capt Sick" (handwriting on that days entry in the logbook is quite 'shaky',
while workbook handwriting appears as usual), that this is actually the
Navigation Workbook of Agnes Layton?"
All I have is a "best guess". Here it is:
I suspect that Agnes Layton received the logbook as an heirloom. Maybe she
was a daughter or grand-daughter of John and Elizabeth. The address in New
Bedford makes sense then. I don't know much about the family history, but there
are people at the Seaport who do know, and they could clear that up if you're
interested. I believe that the calculations in the Navigation Workbook have
been made by John Layton and Elizabeth Layton, though I have no other info on
Elizabeth. When you get to May 12 or so in the Navigation Workbook, which is
when Capt. Layton leaves the ship for "medical treatment" in Hakodate
(Hokkaido, Japan), the navigation entries come to an end. I am assuming that
Elizabeth Layton has also gone to Hakodate. The logbook, meanwhile, continues. So
at least during that period in May and June, the log is being kept probably by
the First Mate, Horace Tower. There's a minor mutiny over the new command.
It is possible that the logbook was kept by different people, Capt. Layton
first, then Tower. It is also possible that it was Tower's logbook all along
with direction from Capt. Layton while he was in command.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
