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Excerpt
[Favourite questions:]
- The length of a ship’s keel is 125 feet, the breadth of the midship-beam 25 feet, and the depth of the hold 15 feet. Find the dimensions of another ship, of the same form, that shall carry three times the burthen.
- A, B and C were in company. A put in the 1st of March £60, B put in the 1st of May 160 yards of broad cloth, C put in the 1st June 240 ducats. On the 1st of January following, A and B took out £456, B and C £431, A and C £170. What was the whole money, the cloth per yard, ducats per piece, and each man’s share?
- A person, 6 feet high, standing by the side of a river, observed the top of a tower placed on the opposite side, subtend an angle of 59° with a line drawn parallel to the horizon. Receding 50 feet, he then found that it subtended an angle of only 49°. Required, the height of the tower and breadth of the river.
- Having my starboard tacks on board, I met a snow [small brig-like vessel] that had sailed northeast by north 284 miles from the port I am bound to, and next day I met a brig which sailed thence 326 miles, with the wind then at south by east, two points abaft the beam. Required, my course and distance between meeting these vessels, and how near the wind I had lain.
- On the 4th of May 1815, at 6h. 32′ 28″ a.m. by watch, in latitude 48° 10′ N. and longitude 8° 7′ E. by account, suppose the distance between the nearest limbs of the sun and moon to be 59° 36′, the altitude of the sun’s lower limb being at the time of observing the distance, 16º 51′ 35″, and that of the upper limb of the moon 25° 2′ 52″, the elevation of the eye 21 feet. Required, the true longitude of the place of observation.
“What,” they cry, “have sailor lads to do with the limbs of the sun and moon? No! we will teach them during their three years a little arithmetic and some grammar.” Teach a sailor grammar! Would you improve the phrases of “luff, luff,” “down top mizens;” settle the knotty point of the gender of a vessel; or teach a sailor the abstruse knowledge of the subjunctive mood?
To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.Abbreviations
Comment
How hard would these be for modern sailors? How is marine grammar these days?
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Original
To the EDITOR of the HULL PACKET.
To ALDEBARAN.
SIR,-I have read your letter addressed to Mr. Passman. With that gentleman I have no connexion; nor any interest in the choice of a Master for the Trinity-house school; but as rumour, with one of its thousand tongues, has said that it will be another week before an answer is given to your desires, I will, with Mr. Editor’s leave, present the public with the problems in question.
PROBLEMS proposed to the Candidates for the Mastership of the Marine School, Hull, August 5, 1815.
1.-If 3/8 of a ship is worth 3740l. what is the whole worth?
2.-A cistern, containing 60 pipes of water, has three unequal cocks; the first will empty the cistern in one hour, the second in two, and the third in three; now supposing they were all set open at once, in what time will they empty the cistern?
3.- Bought hose in London at 4s. 3d. per pair, and sold them afterwards in Dublin at 6s per pair:-taking the charge, at an average, to be 2d. per pair, and considering that I must lose 12 per cent. by remitting my money home, what do I gain per cent. by this article of trade?
4.-A has ½ of a ship, B ¼, C 1/16, D 3/16. She clears in one voyage 120l.: how much of the gain must each owner have?
5.-The length of a ship’s keel is 125 feet, the breadth of the midship-beam 25 feet, and the depth of the hold 15 feet: find the dimensions of another ship, of the same form, that shall carry three times the burthen.
6.-Extract the cube root of 2; also of .7854.
7.-A sugar loaf, in the form of a cone, the perpendicular height of which is 20 inches and its base 12, is to be divided into three equal parts: what will be the perpendicular height of each part?
8.-If A and B together, can perform a piece of work in 8 days; A and C together in 9 days; and B and C together in 10 days, how many days will it take each person to perform the same work alone?
9.-A B and C were in company. A put in the 1st of March 60l., B put in the 1st of May 160 yards of broad cloth, C put in the 1st June, 240 ducats. On the 1st of January following, A and B took out 456l. B and C 431l. A and C 170l.: what was the whole money, the cloth per yard, ducats per piece, and each man’s share?
10.-How many square feet are in a triangle, of which one angle is 45°, and its including sides 25 and 21¼ feet?
11.-Suppose the expense of paving a semi-circular plot, at 2s. 4d. per foot, amounted to 10l.: what is the diameter of it?
12.-If the length of a hoard be 10 feet, its breadth 8 inches at the greater end, and 6 inches at the less, how much in length at the less end will make one foot?
13.-The length of a square piece of tapering timber is 10 feet, the side of its greater base 9 inches, and that of its less 6 inches; required how much ́in length from the less end will make a solid foot?
14.-A person, 6 feet high, standing by the side of a river, observed the top of a tower placed on the opposite side, subtend an angle of 59° with a line drawn parallel to the horizon; receding 50 feet, he then found that it subtended an angle of only 49°: required the height of the tower, and breadth of the river.
15.-If when the moon appears in the horizon to a person on the earth, at her mean dist. from it, her zenith distance, as calculated by astronomical tables, be 89° 2′ 55″: it is required to find how many of the earth’s semidiameters the said mean distance of the moon is equal to.
16.- From a ship at sea A, I observed a point of land C to hear N. E. 102º¼ and after sailing 13 miles in the direction N. E. 40°½ to B, it bore N. E. 141°½: required the distance of the last place of observation from the point of land.
17.-Coasting along the shore I saw two head lands; the first bore from me N. W. b. N. and the second N. N. E.; then standing away E. b. N. ¾ N. 20 miles, I found the first bore from me W. N. W. ½ W. and the second N. b. W. ½ W.: required the bearing and distance of these two head lands.
18.-A ship, in latitude 51° 18′ N. longitude 22° 56′ W. is bound to a place in S. E. quarter, distance 1024 miles, and in latitude 37° N. what course must she steer, and what difference of longitude must she make to get to the intended port?
19.-A ship bound to windward, then at E. N. E. sails with her larboard tacks on board 12 miles; she then tacks and having run 16 miles more, it appeared that, upon both tacks, the difference of latitude made good was 6 miles to the north, and the whole departure 14 miles to the east. What was the course sailed on each tack; and how near did she lie to the wind?
20.-Having my starboard tacks on board, I met a snow that had sailed N. E. b. N. 284 miles from the port I am bound to, and next day I met a brig which sailed thence 326 miles, with the wind then at S. b. E. two points abaft the beam: required my course and distance between meeting these vessels; and how near the wind I had lain.
21.-Given the obliquity of the ecliptic 23º 27′ 48″ and the sun’s place 13º 16′ in Taurus: find his right ascension and declination?
22.-Given the sun’s amplitude E. 27° 32′ N. and his declination 19° 39′ N. to find the latitude of the place.
23.-Given the latitude of the place 51° 28′ 40″ N. the sun’s declination 19° 34′ 26″ N. and the altitude of his centre 30º 20′; required his azimuth and hour from noon.
24.-In latitude 48° 55′ 40″ N. longitude 65° 59′ 20″ W. on the 14th April, 1808, the altitude of Aldebaran when west of the meridian, was 22° 20′ 20″; required the apparent time of observation.
25.-On a day in the northern hemisphere, when the sun declination was 20° 13′ 20″ N. his true altitude in the forenoon was observed to be 18° 32′ 5″, and three hours afterwards it was 39° 58′ 12″, from which it is required to find the latitude of the place.
26.-Being at sea when the sun’s declination was 12º 16′ N., at 10h. 24m. A. M., the sun’s true altitude was 49° 9′ 26”; and at 1h. 14m. 34s. P. M. his true altitude was 51° 59′ 14″; what was the true latitude, supposing it to be north?
27.-On the 4th of May 1815, at 6h. 32′ 28″ A. M. by watch, in latitude 48° 10′ N. and longitude 8° 7′ E. by account, suppose the distance between the nearest limbs of the sun and moon to be 59° 36′, the alt. of the sun’s lower limb being at the time of observing the distance, 16º 51′ 35”, and that of the upper limb of the moon 25° 2′ 52″, the elevation of the eye 21 feet; required the true longitude of the place of observation.
Upon these problems let us have the judgment of any man who is sufficiently witless or ignorant to make those insinuations which he has not the manliness nor the ability to substantiate. “What,” they cry, “have sailor lads to do with the limbs of the sun and moon?” What, indeed! Let us answer, why puzzle their heads with azimuth, zenith, and semidiameters? no! we will teach them during their three years a little arithmetic and some grammar. Teach a sailor grammar! Oh, sons of Eclipse, revolve in your ecliptic – but let no ray of genius reflect upon your obscure minds – spend your lives in grammatical studies; and should you ever meet with one practical instance of science, apply a nominative case to it. Would you improve the phrases of “luff, luff,” “down top mizens’ – settle the knotty point of the gender of a vessel, and determine that feminine ships should not have masculine names, or teach a sailor the abstruse knowledge of the subjunctive mood. I remember a man who makes long speeches, and quotes Milton, advertised his grammatical acumen when he “intended opening” a shop. Even Dr. Clarke charged Dr. Marsh with twenty errors in as many pages; and Dr. Parr could not judge between them. Had any of these sly critics a ship at sea, and the master or mate a Trinity-house scholar, would they, when the winds blew over their heads, be more satisfied that their servants should, after the storm, write a correct grammatical account of the tempest, or be able to find the true longitude by the distance between the nearest limbs of the sun and moon? Are double altitudes and lunars sufficient, or can they learn sufficient in Whitefriargate, on a half sheet of paper, in half an hour? But three years are not sufficient. True; it is not with some,- nor three hundred.
With a common capacity it is more than enough to learn sufficient to solve these problems, taking a boy at eleven or twelve years of age, knowing arithmetic. In the preface to Keil’s Astronomy are numbered the propositions in Euclid’s Elements, necessary for the study of that science. Suppose a boy spent two months over that work, two or three more over Trigonometry, another over Logarithms.—We will complete the first year in elementary progress, another in Navigation, and give the third to Astronomy.-The cause of their backwardness is to be sought elsewhere than in the powers of the boys. Amongst men who attempt to ridicule what they do not comprehend, and whose interest it is to evade what they cannot answer.
I should like no finer sport than that some of those sneerers would give tangibility to their wit – and no longer shelter themselves behind their assumed looks of wisdom, to disseminate opinions injurious to science and character, on subjects they have neither ability to understand, nor of which they have modesty to confess their ignorance.
Z.
Lime-street, September 28th.
1709 words.
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