Les taules de navegació americanes : American Practical Navigator


1807 2017
Segle XIX (paper) Segle XXI (en línia)
Teniu les taules americanes? Aquesta va ser la pregunta d'un usuari i, és clar, si al Catàleg de la Biblioteca busquem al cercador "taules americanes" no ens dona cap resultat, i -malgrat això- sí que les tenim.
2nd Ed 1807
Segona edició (May 1807)
El títol amb variants al llarg de la seva llarga història és American Practical Navigator. Va ser publicat per primer cop el 1772. El libre també és conegut com el Bowditch, el nom de l'autor de la primera edició renovada.

Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) el va signar per primer cop al 1802. Bowditch, amb formació matemàtica autodidacta, feia servir les taules de John Hamilton Moore titulades Practical Navigator mentre anava embarcat com a segon oficial. Va ser llavors que va adonar-se que els càlculs tenien errors (uns 8.000 errors!) i va participar en l'edició corregida de 1799. Dues edicions més tard (1802) l'editor va considerar que Bowditch havia fet tants canvis en l'obra, tan acurats i precisos, que ja el va fer aparèixer com a autor.
Bowditch tenia un talent especial per al càlcul mental i molta paciència, Number Man li diuen també. Era molt metòdic en tot el que feia. Al 1803 va deixar la mar per treballar com a Inspector of Journals a l'East India Marine Society, a Salem, però va continuar actualitzant l'obra tota la seva vida. I va aplicar la seva passió pels nombres també en la seva tasca administrativa creant codis i formularis per sistematitzar el treball.

També cal destacar la seva tasca com a traductor i anotador de l'obra de Pierre Simon Laplace Mécanique Céleste.

L'East India Marine Society avui és la seu  del Peabody Essex Museum.

A la Biblioteca del Museu tenim la segona edició del New American Practical Navigator (1807), la tercera (1811), la de 1962 i la del 2017 ja en format pdf que us podeu descarregar també per internet.

Aquesta edició en línia és la primera que no s'edita en paper i si consulteu el sumari veureu que és completíssima ja que inclou meteorologia, oceanografia, hidrografia, geodèsia, navegació polar i d'emergència, glossari de navegació, cartografia digital i navegació electrònica.
Carry on Mr. Bowditch
És curiós llegir al pròleg de la segona edició (1807) com Bowditch es defensa de les crítiques del seu rival, Andrew Mackay, que l'acusava de poc rigorós i d'errors en l'edició de 1802. Bowdicht esmena errors en la nova edició de 1807 i respon en el seu pròleg detallant alguns dels errors que Mackay havia comès en l'obra "rival" Complete Navigator (1804) editada a Londres.

Però, ara, després de tants anys, encara serveix aquesta obra? Doncs sí, és el llibre de navegació més complet i actualitzat, és "l'obra de referència" de navegació astronòmica per excel·lència.

I per acabar, aquí teniu diversos recursos per si voleu aprofundir en el tema:

La biografia, l'obra, les seves activitats professionals i els seus treballs científics 

Sobre American Practical Navigator

Existeix una novel·la juvenil sobre la infantesa de Bowditch: Carry on Mr Bowditch

 I dos articles apareguts l'any passat en dues revistes que rebem a la biblioteca: Revista General de Marina i Sea History:

Jar Torre, Luis. "Libros y revistas". Revista General de Marina (Diciembre 2017), p. 1042-1044

PlakinsThornton, Tamara. "A New Look at Nathaniel Bowdicht, Nineteenth-Century America's Numbers Man". Sea History 160 (Autumn 2017) p. 24-27

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