In
this day and age, we tend
to take navigation for granted. We have so many devices
at our
fingertips we
don’t worry about getting lost. Still, that possibility
does exist. Our
ancestors relied on celestial observation to reach their
destinations,
and as Commander
Scott, who wrote the foreword to this volume, learned as
a young naval
aviator,
it remains a viable means of navigating our way.
The problem is that with
all
our technology and applications, the art of celestial
navigation is
becoming
lost. We’d rather do things the easy way, such as
looking at a computer
screen
that tells a cashier the exact bills and coins to remove
from specific
slots in
the cash drawer to make change, or blithely following
the disembodied
female
voice that demands we “turn right.” What happens,
though, when the
electricity
goes out or something goes wrong? This is when it’s
important to know
how to
use our minds and skills to solve the problem.
Voyage to
Jamestown,
however, isn’t your typical navigational
text. Hicks weaves the
education and experiences of Captain Tristram Hame, a
fictional
navigator, with
primary source material to show how brave and daring
seamen found their
way
from England to Jamestown using the tools and methods
available in the
early
1600s. The result is a compelling and thought-provoking
examination of
early
navigation and seamanship, as well as an entertaining
glimpse of life
in the
seventeenth century.
Hicks begins and ends each
chapter with a period quote that pertains to the
material discussed
within
those pages. One example is from Robert Norman’s The Newe
Attractive (1581).
How beneficial the art and
exercise of
navigation is
to this realm, there is no man so simple but sees,
by means whereof we
being
secluded and divided from the rest of the world, are
not withstanding
as it
were citizens of the world, walking through every
corner, and round
about the
same, and enjoying all the commodities of the world.
The author constantly
refers
to contemporary publications and provides excerpts from
these and
actual logs
to demonstrate and reinforce the various aspects of
early navigation.
Black-and-white illustrations, such as the frontispiece
of Martin
Cortés’s The Arte of Navigation or
photographs
of
places and navigational tools, charts, and diagrams
abound. Hicks also
explains
how these devices were used and the calculations masters
had to make to
locate
their position. He also provides a summary of key points
at the
conclusion of
each chapter. The notes at the end of the book identify
the author’s
source
material for particular information. There is a
glossary, a selected
bibliography listing both primary and secondary sources,
and an index.
Chapter one introduces the
art of navigation and the navigator Hame, who is based
on Tobias
Felgate, the
archaeological framework used throughout the book, the
maritime world
of Hame’s
day and his ship, which “is a microcosm of his society,
and all the
activities
and lives on board her embody the politics, economy,
religion, and
early
science of the time.” (8) It also discusses the seascape
from Hame’s
point of
view and the language on board. The hypothetical voyage
that Hame makes
“is
based directly on primary accounts of wills, charter
parties, legal
proceedings, contemporary texts on navigation,
cosmology, and
seamanship, and narratives
to illuminate the mental world of early modern English
seafarers who
journeyed
to explore, exploit, and colonize North America.” (11)
Hicks concludes
with
objectives the reader will learn through reading the
book.
Chapter two discusses Hame,
the
ship, and the business side of colonizing and exploring.
The next
chapter
covers the nitty-gritty of making a voyage and setting
sail. Subsequent
chapters focus on the various stops the ship makes, the
tools used to
reach
each destination, and hazards encountered along the way.
Mathematics
and geometry are not my strengths, but I
thoroughly enjoyed this voyage into the realm of
seventeenth-century
navigation
and sailing. Hicks provides readers with a fascinating
glimpse into the
maritime world, as well as the society in which these
seafarers lived
when not
at sea. Anyone who wants to learn more about sailing in
the past will
enjoy
this journey.
Pirates
and Privateers
