The voyage from the Bermudas, or Somers Isles, to Lizard became in the seventeenth century, following Richard Norwood's use of it in The Seaman's Practice (1637), the standard example to illustrate the principles of great-circle sailing. The title chosen here suggests an association. Norwood, as a matter of interest, carried out the first survey of the islands, and his measurement of an arc of the meridian, from York to London, led to the re-knotting of the log-line to preserve a sea-mile comprising 60 to a degree.

(This paper was presented at a meeting to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Solent Branch held in Warsash on 3 December 1981.)