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Jean Rotz and the Marine Chart, 1542

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

E. G. R. Taylor
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Extract

This paper was first published in the Journal in 1954 (Vol. 7, p. 138). It is followed by comments from Michael Richey.

At the time (1542) when Jean Rotz presented Henry VIII with a variation compass, and an accompanying treatise on its making and use, the question of magnetic variation was an acute one. It formed part of a wider controversy concerning the general validity of the sea-chart which had been raised among seamen. As to this, Dr Pedro Nunez, writing a treatise in 1537 addressed to his friend and pupil the Infante Dom Luys of Portugal, said that there were skilled pilots who derided the chart and declared it to be ‘a mais falsa causa do mundo’ – the falsest thing in the world. Hastening to its defence, Nunez dealt at length with the navigating errors introduced by ignoring the convergence of the meridians, and showed besides that a rhumb, or line of constant bearing was a spiral curve on the globe.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 429 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1997

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References

REFERENCES

1Taylor, E. G. R., (1954). Jean Rotz and the variation of the compass, 1542. This Journal, 7, 9.Google Scholar
2Taylor, E. G. R., (1951). The oldest Mediterranean pilot. This Journal, 4, 81.Google Scholar
3Barbosa, A., (1948). Novos subsidios para a historia da ciencia nautica portuguesa da época dos docobrimentos. Porto: Institute para a alta cultura. (Use has been made of extensive quotations in this work from originals not otherwise available.)Google Scholar