Description

Sailors and scholars from the Iberian Peninsula developed practical and theoretical navigational knowledge needed for oceanic voyages to Asia and the Americas from the 15th century onwards. A century later, Dutch and Zeeland ships also sailed off shore to Asia. They knew the magnetic compass, the lead and line and the log and had pass and reading charts; they determined their geographical latitude by height of the sun and the Pole Star. Instruments and techniques for astronomical navigation such as the sea astrolabe, the degree stick (Jacobs staff), declination tables and explanatory navigation manuals came from southern Europe. After a few decades, the VOC played an innovative role in maritime cartography, navigation and navigational instruments and remained so throughout the 17th century. The first major improvement was the invention of the octant, in 1731 in England; as a sextant, the instrument remained in use at sea until satellite navigation in the 1980s. A second important development, also in England, was the advent of the ship's timekeeper or chronometer. This solved the issue of determining geographical longitude at sea. The 18th century also saw an important Dutch contribution to the trade: Cornelis Douwes' 'latitude outside noon' method. In 1843, an American merchant captain published about the 'position line navigation' he discovered by accident. With this, a sextant and a timekeeper could be used to calculate specifications several times a day at sea.
Precision instruments such as sextants and timekeepers require expert management and maintenance. In the Netherlands, this was done from 1858 by Professor Kaiser at the Leiden Observatory. Checking whether time gauges were ahead or behind was done in ports where once a day a time ball indicated the exact time on the prime meridian. After the advent of the radio, around 1900, this checking could be done much more frequently through radio time signals. Radio waves contributed more to safe navigation in the 20th century, such as with the radio direction finder (RDF) and Radar. Around World War II, hyperbolic radio navigation systems came into use, which in turn were supplanted by satellite navigation in the 1980s

10.30:00 Reception with coffee
11:00 Lecture by Dr W.F.J. Mörzer Bruyns
11:45 Pause
12:15 Continuation of lecture with concluding discussion
12:45 End of meeting

Directions:
From motorway A13 Rotterdam or Den Haag, exit Delft. Leave IKEA behind you. Go straight ahead at first traffic light, turn left at second (T-junction). Keep right and turn right at the next traffic lights (Mijnbouwstraat). After approx. 100 m, you will see the former mining engineering building on your right. There is some parking next to the building, and also on the service road of the Julianalaan opposite. Public transport via NS Delft Centraal, then bus 62, 80 or 81 (stop Michiel de Ruyterweg) or walk (approx. 20 min).

Speaker(s)

Dr W.F.J. Mörzer Bruyns (1943) briefly sailed after Hogere Zeevaartschool in Amsterdam as a helmsman with the Stoomvaart Maatschappij 'Nederland' also in Amsterdam. From 1969-2005, he was (senior) curator of nautical science at Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam and then Sackler Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Since 1972, he has published ten books (including four with other authors) and 106 articles on the history of navigation and navigational instruments, and nineteenth-century polar research, as well as 63 book reviews. He obtained his PhD at Leiden in 2003 on the introduction of the octant in the Netherlands

Location

Science Centre, Mijnbouwstraat 120, Delft

Organiser

History of Technology

Histechnica

Name and contact details for information

Further information from L.A. Hissink at the e-mail address below.

hissinkla@planet.nl