Description
The latest edition of the Bowditch. This 2019 edition of the American Practical Navigator offered by Paradise Cay Publications, is separated into two editions, but is bound for your convenience into one handsome, hardcover book. The American Practical Navigator (colloquially often referred to as Bowditch), was first published in 1802. The work was originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, and is an encyclopedia of navigation. It serves as a valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary. In 1867 the copyright and plates were bought by the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy. As of 2019 it is still published by the U.S. Government and is available online from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the modern successor agency to the 19th Century Hydrographic Office. The publication is considered one of America’s nautical institutions. The text has evolved with the advances in navigation practices since that first issue and continues to serve as a valuable reference for marine navigation in the modern day. The publication describes in detail the principles and factors of navigation, including piloting, electronic navigation, celestial navigation, mathematics, safety, oceanography and meterology. It also contains various tables used in typical navigational calculations and solutions, including the formulas used to derive the tabular data.
About the Author
Nathaniel Bowditch was born on March 26, 1773, in Salem, Massachusetts, fourth of the seven children of shipmaster Habakkuk Bowditch and his wife, Mary. From the time William Bowditch migrated from England in the 17th century, the Bowditch family resided in Salem. Most of its sons, like those of other families in this New England seaport, had gone to sea, and many of them became shipmasters.
