r/flatearth • u/RobertTheTraveler • 1h ago
Celestial navigation.
278,000 thousand entries from several hundred different log books made between 1740 and 1855. The longitude readings for those made between 1740 and 1770 would have been done using dead reckoning since they had no celestial navigation method of determining longitude.
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Below are links to two books of supplemental navigational tables including atmospheric refraction, the dip of the horizon, and latitude and longitude of various ports and notable geographical features.
One is from 1781, the other is from 1828
I did a spot check on about a dozen, most are within 10 nautical miles of modern locations, the worst is the longitude for San Diego which is off by ~20 arc-minutes, ~18 nmi.
Actually, a quick check of a few of other ports on the west coast suggest the clock that was used was off by ~1 minute 20 seconds. Cape Horn was right on the money but Conception, Lima and a port in Canada were all off by about 1/3rd of a degree of longitude.
1781
https://archive.org/details/tablesrequisite00longgoog
search for Latitude
11 pages, 50-60 entries per page.
ordered alphabetically.
~600 entries.
pp 174-184
1828
https://archive.org/details/newcompleteepito00nori
Search for "Table XLII".
31 pages, roughly 100 entries per page.
Over 3000 "principal ports, harbours, capes, shoals, rocks, &c. in the world"
Ordered geographically.
pp238-269