Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is a novel by Jean Lee Latham that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1956.

The book is a children's biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, a sailor and mathematician who published the mammoth and comprehensive reference work for seamen: The American Practical Navigator. It is an epic tale of adventure and learning.

Plot summary

The novel introduces readers to young Nathaniel "Nat" Bowditch, the son of a ship Captain who loves school, especially mathematics. He dreams of someday attending Cambridge, Massachusetts's Harvard University, but is forced by economic circumstances to quit school and begin working. Eventually, he ends up as an indentured servant to a ship's chandler, or outfitter. Still determined to continue his education, and compelled to work for the chandlery for nine long years, he begins to teach himself other languages by comparing translations of the Bible. After being granted access to a local private library, he continues to study and to master advanced mathematics in the evenings after work.

When his indenture is complete, he gets the chance to go to sea. There, he discovers that many of the navigational sources used at the time contain extensive and dangerous errors. He is prompted to compile a new book of navigational information. This book, The American Practical Navigator, is still in use today. Under several captains, Nat learns how things work at sea. He invents new ways of calculating latitude and longitude, increasing the accuracy of calculations used to find ships' locations. He also teaches the crew on the ships about math. It took a while for the men to understand, but when they did understand, the men, such as Lem Harvey-the crew's troublemaker, felt smart and important. He also let Little Johnny look through a sextant and search for Polaris. Eventually Nat becomes a captain himself. In the course of the book, Nat receives an honorary degree from the school he always wanted to attend, Harvard.

Deaths

Nathaniel's Grandma and Mother both die at the beginning of the book. Lizza, Nat's closest sister, died at a party when she tumbled down the stairs. Mary (Nat's oldest sister) was married to a seaman named David; David and his entire crew had died of fever during their voyage at sea. Nat's brother, Samuel, died of yellow fever. Nat married Elizabeth, and they spent happy times together. When Nat met another Salem captain in port during a voyage, he found out that Elizabeth had died of tuberculosis. Later in the story, he also found out that Hab and William were lost at sea because of book sailing. Then, when he was going to return his dowry, Elizabeth's mother invited Nat to stay with her and he married Polly Ingersoll, Elizabeth's well-trusted friend.

Further reading

Intended for young readers, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch includes many dramatized and fictional components, including a chapter implying that Bowditch invented the lunar distance method of navigation when, in fact, his contribution was a relatively minor technical improvement in mathematical calculations. A serious modern biography for older readers is Robert E. Berry's Yankee Stargazer, published in 1941.