Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:01:11.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Discovery of an Early Bearing-Dial – Further Investigations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

S. Thirslund
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The first part of the above title was used in the Journal in 1953 for a paper by Captain Carl V. Solver. His special interest was to discover how the Norse navigators of the Viking age found their way across the North Atlantic. He was the first person to interpret the small wooden disc shown in Fig. i as a fragment of an early bearing-dial and investigations since his paper was published provide considerable supportive evidence. At the time, there was some strong opposition to his views, but he persisted with his theory and wrote a book, Vestervejen. This formed a basis for other researchers to carry his work further and, as a result, there have been many international contributions over some 40 years. The archaeological find from southern Greenland seems to show that the Norse navigator used the path of the Sun's shadow during the day as the basis of a compass.

Keywords

1. History.2. Compasses.
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 33 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Sølver, C. V. (1953). The discovery of an early bearing dial. This Journal, 6, 294.Google Scholar
2Sølver, C. V. (1954). Vestervejen om Vikingernes Sejlads (The Western Route about the Viking Sailing). Ivar C. Weilbach & Co. Ltd, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
3Vebaek, C. L. (1952). A new-world Benedictine nunnery before the days of Columbus. Illustrated London News, 3 May.Google Scholar
4Lethbridge, T. C., May, W. E., Motzo, R. B. and Taylor, E. G. R. (1954). A Norse bearing dial? This Journal, 7, 78.Google Scholar
5Ramskou, T. (1982). Solkompasset (The Sun Compass). Copenhagen.Google Scholar
6Sølver, C. J. (c 1950s). Various articles. Danish Nautical Almanac. Weilbach and Co., Copenhagen.Google Scholar
7McGrath, W. H. (1988). Some notes on the navigation of 1985 trans-Indian Ocean canoe voyage. This Journal, 41, 174.Google Scholar
8Ramskou, T. (1969). Solstenen (The Sun stone). Copenhagen.Google Scholar
9Hansen, A. (1989). Kurs mod Sildemarkedspladen. Unpublished report.Google Scholar
10Thirslund, S. and Vebaek, C. L. (1992). The Viking Compass. Authors' publication.Google Scholar