Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-02-16
TURN TO BOWDlTCH
Book by Salem Man, Long Dead,
Has Become War Factor.
Young Officers of the United States
Merchant Marine are Porting Over
american Navigator" Famed
as Sailors Guide.

present eNTr00tGlh1aN 0eftiv3fsti~AiA 4ii
seagoing as Nathaniel Bowditch, who
has been in his grave. for more than
eighty years. and whose mime IS unrec-
ognized by millions 81 his fellow coun-
trymen.
Persons who follow the rise and de-
cline of the best sellers" among books
may be surprised TO know that Bow
ditch was the author Of one of the
hest-selling books ever produced. which
has run through hundreds Of editions
in ell civilized IanguG yes, has been sell
ing steadily for more than a hundred
years. and since the great war began
I. has been in greater demand than ever
This book is known rs the "Ameri-
can Practical Navigator 1t is the
guide Of every keel that sails the Seven
Seas, and is familiaFly known 70 sail
ors the world over as "Bowditch, OF
'Bowditch's Epitome."
with Americas entry into the war
the demand for Bowditch's "Naviga-
tor" became so great that special
edition of the book was published TO
meet it, by the United States hydro
graphic office. notwithstanding that
editions had been as recently issued as
IN 1916. and also in 1914. For time
II was difficult to obtain copy OF the
Navigator" Since the appearance OF
the 1917, edition. however all demands
Tor the book can be met.
The increased demand for the book
was caused chiefly by the stimulus
riven the study OF navigation among
young Americans bv the training serv-
ice of the United States shipping
board, which is schooling hundreds of
Young men to serve as officers on the
ships of the new merchant marine.
Bowditch was called by his contem-
ooraries "an intellectual prodigy" He
has since been termed "the Ocean
pathflnder." On receipt of the news
Of his death, in 1886, vessels in the
chief ports of the world half-masted
their flags. His book was then said by
one eulogist to be Gin practical utility
second to no work of man ever pub
lished."
OF the personality of the man who
achieved this great distinction very
little is recalled today, in spite OF the
vital influence of his work in the pres
ent development of his country.
He was born in the old shipping
town of Salem, Mass, in 1913. His
people were poor, and he was obliged
to leave school when but twelve, to
serve in a ship chambers shop.
There, while selling rope and marlin
spikes, the youth fell in with men from
FAR voyages. One was an old British
sailor, who taught the lad navigation.
Algebra so fascinated the boy he
could not sleep after first glance at
H."
Glanced that about this time n
orivaleer came into Salem with the
BOOTY of a cruise that included a
library of philosophical works, the
property of DR.. Richard Kirwan, an
irish scientist, taken from freighter
captured off the Irish coast
The books were sold at auction, and
Dought by Salem citizens as the nucleus
If library. Young Bowditch had ac-
cess to them, read them eagerly, and
copied most of them for further use.
When twenty-five, Bowditch made
his first voyage to sea, as captains
clerk on a Salem ship. He sailed nine
gears in all, one voyage being on the
Astrea. the first American ship to visit
Ianila harbor.
Every man in the Astrea's crew soon
learned they had a genius among them
Bowditch looked the scholar and de
voted many hours day TO study. He
made every man aboard a navigator,
and it was said. each of them could
work a lunar observation as well as
Sir Isaac Newton"
When not studying young Bowditch
paced the deck in deep thought At
such times nobody spoke to him, know
ing that in due course he would dash
into his cabin to set down the results
Of his concentration, as he rarely failed
to do.
II is related that one day the ship
was attacked by a privateer, and Bow
ditch was assigned to pass powder
from the magazine. The gun crews got
no powder, and investigation showed
Bowditch seated on a powder keg.
working out difficult problem on his
slate.
On arriving in Boston harbor from
voyage in 1902, Bowditch attended
the commencement at Harvard college,
and was surprised to find himself
named for an honorary degree as bach
elor of arts, his work as an authority
on navigation having won him recogni-
ton.
Retiring from the sea in 1904. Bow
ditch became president of fire insur-
ance company. He declined professor
ships at Harvard, the Military academy
at West Point and the University of
Virginia.
His life was devoted largely to per-
fecting his Navigator" and to the
translation from the French and an
notation of La Places Celestial Me-
chanics," a colossal work on astrono-
my showing great erudition by the
translator, but now known only to a
few astronomers.
Even a Stranger.
"An Endorsement Tor Office means lit