Note 18 — THE FYRST PART OF THE NAUIGATION INTO THE NORTH SEAS.

A rude way of determining the time by the bearing of the sun, customary among seamen of all nations in those days, for want of portable time-pieces. Were the precise azimuth of the sun observed, no method could be more exact; but as no interval between the several points of the compass (which are 11° 15′ apart) is taken into account, and as the sun’s bearing is also subject to the variation of the compass, the result must be only approximative. From the compass-bearing alone, as recorded, it would be difficult for the reader to form anything like a correct idea of the actual time—for example, when, on the 30th of June, the sun was observed to be full south, it wanted more than an hour-and-a-quarter of mid-day. It is, therefore, deemed advisable to insert, after each observation of time by the sun, the time by the clock to the nearest quarter of an hour. ↑