Richard Kornicki, Chair, writes: As a young man in 1746, James Cook was apprenticed to master mariner and shipowner John Walker. In Cook’s time at Whitby, one in five of the population was an apprentice and the bulk of those would have been in marine trades. There was no grammar school in the town but mathematical and marine education were paramount in Whitby and Cook studied navigation in Walker’s house where he lived when not at sea.
Although the two manuscripts are half a century later than Cook’s apprentice days, they are indicative of the levels of sophisticated study expected of those who aspired to command at sea and reflect Whitby’s reputation as a ‘nursery of seamen’. They contain the theoretical basis of trigonometry and navigation, as well as complex worked examples of problems such as determining latitude by the meridian altitude of the moon, a star or a planet; navigation by plain, traverse or parallel sailing; and dealing with variation of the compass or watch.
Both are carefully transcribed as fair copies for future reference. Hugill’s includes a journal of a return voyage to Madeira with himself as a mate, possibly a practical exercise for him, with a manuscript chart of the voyage.
Hugill and he has signed the volume with the date 31 January 1812 giving Bilsdale as his address – this is only 20 miles from Whitby. His is a common North Yorkshire name and it is hoped that further research may identify him.
The Museum has no other marine educational materials and intends to use these as examples of the levels of astronomy, trigonometry and navigational science that underpinned the daily life of mariners at this period. Younger visitors will be astonished at the complex calculations and mastery of advanced trigonometry that their forebears were expected to command – without the aid of calculators, Apps or GPS systems.
Poignantly, Hugill’s workbook has, on the final leaf, a metrical setting of Psalm 28 ‘O Lord my rock to thee I cry’. When all other navigational aids have failed, prayer remains the resort of seamen in distress.
