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Martelli' Tables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

Charles H. Cotter
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Captain S. T. L. Lecky, in his famous Wrinkles, wrote with derision in his reference to so-called ‘short-methods’. He warned his readers to ‘beware’ of these:

They generally only look short [wrote Lecky] because good care is taken to apply the various corrections beforehand, and the unsuspecting reader is deceived of this device.

As a case in point Lecky considered the ‘small but expensive pamphlet by Mr. Martelli’, to support his derogatory remarks:

When his so-called ‘short-method’ is overhauled and compared with Raper, we get the following startling result:—Martelli, 56 figures and five logarithms, against Raper's 59 figures and five logarithms, required to produce the same result. So that by the first method we have the enormous (!!!) gain of three figures. Furthermore Mr. Martelli's pamphlet contains several glaring errors which makes one rather dubious about the general correctness of the tables, although (for all the writer (Lecky) knows to the contrary) the mathematical principle of his method may be correct enough.

Type
Forum
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1973 , pp. 485 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1973

References

REFERENCES

1Lecky, S. T. L. (1894). Wrinkles in Practical Navigation, 9th edn.London.Google Scholar
2Martelli, G. F. (1873). Tables of Logarithms. New Orleans.Google Scholar
3Hopkins, H. V. (1937). Martelli's Tables, Nautical Mag, Vol. 138. Glasgow.Google Scholar
4 Anon. (1919). Short, Easy and Improved Method of finding the Apparent Time at Ship. Glasgow, London.Google Scholar
5Brown, C. H., Written communication to Hopkins (op. cit.).Google Scholar
6Willis, E. J. (1925). The Methods of Modern Navigation. New York.Google Scholar
7 Anon. (1955). Admiralty Manual of Navigation. Vol. III, London.Google Scholar
8Goodwin, H. B. (1914). Methods of mystery in nautical astronomy. Nautical Mag., Vol. 91.Google Scholar