Note 413 — THE THIRD VOYAGE NORTH-WARD TO THE KINGDOMES OF CATHAIA and China, in Anno 1596.

Their clock having stopped, and a twelve-hours sand-glass being their only time-keeper, it would be too much to expect precision in their immediate determination of the time of observation. But, fortunately, by placing on record the moon’s azimuth at the time of the conjunction, they furnished the means of calculating the true time within very reasonable limits. The result shows that they were rather more than an hour slow, as it wanted 1 minute and 48 seconds of five o’clock. ↑