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Description
This .pdf contains longitude and latitude positions extracted from the voyage journal of Rev William Scoresby, which was written on the ROYAL CHARTER's first voyage to Australia and back. it also contains instructions on how to recreate that route in the freely available software Google map.
Scoresby was an Arctic explorer, a natural scientist and a clergyman. He was an active member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and had a passion for developing a better understanding of the working of the earth’s magnetic fields. The ROYAL CHARTER became a large magnetical experiment as, day by day, Scoresby made observations of the deviations between all the compasses on board the ship to assess how proximity to the ship's iron hull and masts might cause the compasses to stop pointing to the true poles.
For most days, his journal also noted the longitude and latitude of the ship from the noon day sightings and calculations made by the sailing master. It is from these positions that we can follow the progress of the ship on its round the world voyage.
The full text of Rev William Scoresby ‘Journal of a Voyage to Australia and around the World for Magnetical Research’ is available by following this link:
https://archive.org/details/journalavoyaget00smitgoog
The voyage journal begins on page 173 of the .pdf.
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