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The Foundation and Early Development of the Nautical Almanac

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

Eric G. Forbes
Eric G. Forbes
Affiliation:
(University of Edinburgh)
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Extract

Soon after the middle of the eighteenth century, improvements in the design and construction of astronomical and nautical instruments, coupled with the increased accuracy of tables of the Moon's motion, at last made the accurate determination of longitude at sea by lunar distance a practical possibility. The Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, was quick to appreciate the importance of publishing the calculated solar and lunar ephemerides, together with other relevant tables and explanations, in the form of a Nautical Almanac, which was first printed under his supervision in 1766 and immediately distributed to mariners in different parts of the world. The present article is concerned with the circumstances relating to the origin and development of this publication during the first fifty years of its existence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , October 1965 , pp. 391 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1965

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References

REFERENCES

1 Letters from Bradley to Cleveland (Admiralty Secretary), 10 February 1765 and 14 April 1760: these are reproduced by S. P. Rigaud in Miscellaneous Works and Correspondence of the Rev. James Bradley, D.D., F.R.S., Oxford University Press, 1832, pp. 84–9.Google Scholar
2 Tabulae motuum solis et lunae novae et correctae …, Londini, 1770 (Preface by Nevil Maskelyne).Google Scholar
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