Frontispiece of 1802 first edition. |
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| Also known as: | "Bowditch", Publication Number Nine |
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| Purpose: | Encyclopedia of navigation, valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary. |
| Publication frequency: | Irregular |
| Published by: | Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Topographic Center (DMAHTC) |
| Available online: | Yes (Zip file) |
The American Practical Navigator (colloquially often referred to as Bowditch), originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, is an encyclopedia of navigation. It serves as a valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary. In 1867 the copyright and plates were bought by the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy, and as a U.S. Government publication, it is now available free online. It is not only a notable book but is considered one of America's nautical institutions.
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The most popular navigational text of the late 18th century was The New Practical Navigator by John Hamilton Moore. Edmund M. Blunt, a Newburyport, Massachusetts publisher, decided to issue a revised copy of this work for American navigators and convinced Nathaniel Bowditch, a locally famous mariner and mathematician, to revise and update it with the help of several others. Blunt's The New Practical Navigator was published in 1799, followed by a second edition in 1800.
By 1802, when Blunt was ready to publish a third edition, Nathaniel Bowditch and others had corrected so many errors in Hamilton's work that Blunt decided to publish it as the first edition of a new work, The New American Practical Navigator. The current edition of the American Practical Navigator traces its pedigree to that 1802 edition. Edmund M. Blunt continued to publish the book until 1833; upon his retirement, his sons, Edmund and George, assumed publication. The elder Blunt died in 1862; his son Edmund followed in 1866. The next year, 1867, George Blunt sold the copyright to the government for $25,000. The government has published Bowditch ever since. George Blunt died in 1878.
Nathaniel Bowditch continued to correct and revise the book until his death in 1838. Upon his death, the editorial responsibility for The New American Practical Navigator passed to his son, J. Ingersoll Bowditch. Very few significant changes were made under him. Editions from 1837 through 1880 are nearly identical in content. Ingersoll Bowditch continued editing the Navigator until George Blunt sold the copyright to the government. He outlived all of the principals involved in publishing and editing the Navigator, dying in 1889.
The U.S. government has published some 52 editions since acquiring the copyright to the book that has come to be known simply by its original author’s name, "Bowditch". Since the government began production, the book has been known by its year of publishing, instead of by the edition number. After the first major revision, a total overhaul of the book's content completed in 1880 under the direction of Commander Philip H. Cooper, USN, the name was changed to American Practical Navigator. Much of Bowditch’s original content, including his methods for clearing lunar distance observations, were dropped in 1880 (though a new method for clearing lunars remained in an appendix until the early 20th century). After numerous incremental revisions and printings in the period from 1914 to 1944, Bowditch was extensively revised between 1946 and 1958.
The present volume, while retaining the basic format of the 1958 version, reorganizes the subjects, deletes obsolete text, and adds new material to keep pace with the extensive changes in navigation that have taken place in the electronic age.
This 1995 edition of the American Practical Navigator incorporates extensive changes in organization, format, and content. Recent advances in navigational electronics, communications, positioning, and other technologies have transformed the way navigation is practised at sea, and it is clear that even more changes are forthcoming. The changes to this edition of Bowditch are intended to ensure that this publication remains the premier reference work for practical marine navigation. Concerted efforts were made to return to Nathaniel Bowditch’s original intention "to put down in the book nothing I can’t teach the crew." To this end, many complex formulas and equations have been eliminated, and emphasis placed on the capabilities and limitations of various navigation systems and how to use them, instead of explaining complex technical and theoretical details. This edition replaces but does not cancel former editions, which may be retained and consulted as to navigation methods not discussed herein.
The former Volume II has been incorporated into the primary volume to save space and production cost. For similar reasons, the book is now published on a larger page size. These two changes allow the publisher to present a single, comprehensive navigation science reference which explains modern navigational methods while respecting traditional ones. The goal of the changes was to put as much useful information before the navigator as possible in the most understandable and readable format.
Portions of this article originated from the preface of The American Practical Navigator, a document produced by the government of the United States of America.
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