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Scienza, tecnologia ed economia nelle tecniche di navigazione attraverso i secoli: navigatori “pratici” o cronometri marini?
Science, technology, and economics in navigation techniques through the centuries: “practical” navigators or marine chronometers?
Favretto, Andrea
Krasna, Francesca
2025
Abstract
This article takes its cue from a centuries-old American publication used in the Navy, Nathaniel Bowditch’s The American Practical Navigator, to explore a fascinating page in the history of navigation, specifi¬cally concerning the determination of longitude at open sea. Knowing the position of a ship is, in fact, the first prerequisite for safety at sea, and full control of navi¬gation is an essential strategic and geopolitical issue for a nation that wants to be a political, military, and economic power. The first edition of Bowditch’s text dates back to a period (the early 19th century) when the technical evolution of marine chronometers could (chronologically) have supplanted navigation based on the observation of the movement of the stars in the sky. Bowditch’s text, on the other hand, taught how to de¬termine longitude at sea using the so-called ‘celestial methods’. It was so successful in the Navy (especially in the New World) that it became part of the equipment considered indispensable for navigation, as compass or sextant. The authors start from this apparent temporal inconsistency and set out to analyze it on the basis of historical, geographical, economic, and technological factors. There is often a certain reluctance to readily and fully adopt new technological tools; this phenomenon also occurred in the case of the marine chronometer, mainly for economic reasons. After a brief examination of the problem of longitude at sea and the main methods used to solve it, Bowditch’s work and its evolution to the present day are presented; the technical and historical analysis of the marine chro¬nometer, from the time of the Longitude Act (1714) to the present day, highlights the close links and important strategic, technological, and economic significance of the two instruments, whose contribution to the sciences of navigation (and beyond) is worthy of consideration and reflection even today.
Il presente articolo prende lo spunto da una pluricen¬tenaria pubblicazione americana utilizzata in Marina, The American Practical Navigator di Nathaniel Bowditch, per ap¬profondire una suggestiva pagina di storia della navigazione, che riguarda in particolare la determinazione della longitu¬dine in mare aperto. Conoscere la posizione della nave è in¬fatti il primo presupposto per la sicurezza in mare e il pieno controllo della navigazione rappresenta una questione es¬senziale dal punto di vista strategico e geopolitico per una nazione che voglia essere una potenza politico-militare ed economica. La prima edizione del testo di Bowditch risale ad un periodo (inizio del XIX secolo), nel quale l’evoluzione tecnica dei cronometri marini avrebbe potuto (cronologica¬mente), soppiantare la navigazione basata sull’osservazio¬ne del movimento degli astri nella volta celeste. Il testo di Bowditch insegnava invece a ricavare la longitudine in mare proprio con i cosiddetti “metodi celesti”. Esso ebbe un gran¬de successo in Marina (specialmente quella del nuovo mon¬do), tanto da divenire parte della strumentazione considera¬ta indispensabile per la navigazione, al pari della bussola o del sestante. Gli Autori partono da questa apparente incon¬gruenza temporale e si propongono di analizzarla sulla base di elementi storico-geografici ed economici, nonché tecno¬logici. Spesso esiste infatti una certa viscosità nella pronta e completa adozione di strumenti tecnologicamente nuovi; questo fenomeno si verificò anche nel caso del cronometro marino, principalmente per motivazioni economiche. Dopo una breve disamina del problema della longitudi¬ne in mare e dei principali metodi per risolverlo, si presenta l’opera di Bowditch e la sua evoluzione fino ai giorni nostri; l’analisi tecnico-storica del cronometro marino, dai tempi del Longitude Act (1714) ad oggi, permette di evidenziare gli stretti legami e le importanti valenze strategiche, tecnologi¬che ed economiche dei due strumenti, il cui contributo alle scienze della navigazione (e non solo) risulta degno di consi¬derazione e riflessione anche ai nostri giorni.
This article takes its cue from a centuries-old American publication used in the Navy, Nathaniel Bowditch’s The American Practical Navigator, to explore a fascinating page in the history of navigation, specifi¬cally concerning the determination of longitude at open sea. Knowing the position of a ship is, in fact, the first prerequisite for safety at sea, and full control of navi¬gation is an essential strategic and geopolitical issue for a nation that wants to be a political, military, and economic power. The first edition of Bowditch’s text dates back to a period (the early 19th century) when the technical evolution of marine chronometers could (chronologically) have supplanted navigation based on the observation of the movement of the stars in the sky. Bowditch’s text, on the other hand, taught how to de¬termine longitude at sea using the so-called ‘celestial methods’. It was so successful in the Navy (especially in the New World) that it became part of the equipment considered indispensable for navigation, as compass or sextant. The authors start from this apparent temporal inconsistency and set out to analyze it on the basis of historical, geographical, economic, and technological factors. There is often a certain reluctance to readily and fully adopt new technological tools; this phenomenon also occurred in the case of the marine chronometer, mainly for economic reasons. After a brief examination of the problem of longitude at sea and the main methods used to solve it, Bowditch’s work and its evolution to the present day are presented; the technical and historical analysis of the marine chro¬nometer, from the time of the Longitude Act (1714) to the present day, highlights the close links and important strategic, technological, and economic significance of the two instruments, whose contribution to the sciences of navigation (and beyond) is worthy of consideration and reflection even today.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Andrea Favretto, Francesca Krasna, "Scienza, tecnologia ed economia nelle tecniche di navigazione attraverso i secoli: navigatori “pratici” o cronometri marini?" in: "Bollettino dell'Associazione Italiana di Cartografia 181 (2024)", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2025, pp. 98-113
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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