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  • Nov. 1, 1793
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Nov. 1, 1793: Page 71

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    Article A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. ← Page 3 of 6 →
Page 71

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.

but when forced , as they must often have been , into the open sea , how they have directed their course is unknown . They were ignorant of any method of taking the meridian altitude of the sun . In the night , indeed , they were accustomed to observe the stars , and particularly the Great Bear , the principal guide of the Grecian navigators . The uncertainty , and the dangers of steering their course by a constellation , which indicates with so little precision the north

pole , were augmented by the defective manner in which they made their observations . They were taken with the naked eye only . Still less were they acquainted with sea-charts . How then could they steer with any certainty to their intended port ? how avoid the rocks and-shoals that lay in their way ? What must have been their embarrassment , when overtaken by a tempest , especially in dark

and hazy weather , when the stars were clouded from their view ! Hence we find , that Homer always brings his subtle hero to land , absolutely ignorant of the very name of the coast on which he finds himself arrived * . They were also ignorant , at the period of which I now speak , of several machines that appear , to us indispensibly necessary to

navigation . In the time of the Argonauts they were unacquainted with the anchorf- It is even extremely doubtful whether it was known in the age of Homer ; at-least the Greek word properly signifying an anchor never once occurs in his poems , nor is there a single allusion to its use . The Greeks , it . would appear , made use at that time of large stones instead of anchors . When Ulysses arrived at the road of the Lestrigons , he attached his bark to a rock with . cables . t . ' ¦

There is also every reason to believe that they were utterly unacquainted with the practice of founding . Homer at least never men-tionsit ; we find nothing elsewhere to contradict the conclusions drawn from his silence . Plence we may easil y conceive the dangers to which , in the heroic times , the Grecian navigators were exposed . With so slender a stock of naval skillit was impossible they

, could extend their navigation to any considerable distance . In fact , it was not till six hundred years after the Argonautic expedition , that the Greeks dared to enter into the ocean § , which they had long regarded as a sea to which there was no access . As to the Red Sea , and the Arabian and Persian Gul phs , there they were not seen till the days of Alexander the Great .

The inhabitants of the island of E gina may be regarded as the first . of the European Greeks who distinguished themselves bv their skill in maritime affairs . By their attention to their marine forces ,

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1793-11-01, Page 71” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 29 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01111793/page/71/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
LONDON: Article 1
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE: OR, GENERAL and COMPLETE LIBRARY. Article 2
A GENERAL CHARGE TO MASONRY. Article 7
A CHARGE Article 11
ON FASHION. Article 18
ANECDOTE OF PHILIP I. KING OF SPAIN. Article 20
COMMENTS ON STERNE. Article 21
THE ANTIQUITY OF DRINKING HEALTHS. Article 28
ANECDOTES OF DR. GOLDSMITH. Article 31
CHARACTER OF SIR ANTHONY BROWN. Article 38
ANECDOTES OF DR. JOHNSON, &c. Article 39
PRIVATE ANECDOTES OF ILLUSTRIOUS FRENCH CHARACTERS. Article 46
HOPE. Article 53
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF JAMES HESELTINE, ESQ. G. T. Article 56
TO THE PRINTER OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, Article 58
THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE MOST ANTIENT AND HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS, RESIDENT IN THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN. In GRAND LODGE assembled. Article 58
OF MAN's HAPPINESS. Article 59
A TALE. Article 60
ON THE STUDY OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. Article 64
THE CRUELTY OF A FATHER. Article 65
A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. Article 69
THE CHOICE OF ABDALA: Article 74
STRICTURES ON PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 79
POETRY. Article 82
TO ARNO. Article 83
STANZAS Article 84
PROLOGUE TO THE WORLD IN A VILLAGE. Article 85
FOREIGN OCCURRENCES. Article 86
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 88
Untitled Article 91
Untitled Article 91
Untitled Article 91
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Page 71

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.

but when forced , as they must often have been , into the open sea , how they have directed their course is unknown . They were ignorant of any method of taking the meridian altitude of the sun . In the night , indeed , they were accustomed to observe the stars , and particularly the Great Bear , the principal guide of the Grecian navigators . The uncertainty , and the dangers of steering their course by a constellation , which indicates with so little precision the north

pole , were augmented by the defective manner in which they made their observations . They were taken with the naked eye only . Still less were they acquainted with sea-charts . How then could they steer with any certainty to their intended port ? how avoid the rocks and-shoals that lay in their way ? What must have been their embarrassment , when overtaken by a tempest , especially in dark

and hazy weather , when the stars were clouded from their view ! Hence we find , that Homer always brings his subtle hero to land , absolutely ignorant of the very name of the coast on which he finds himself arrived * . They were also ignorant , at the period of which I now speak , of several machines that appear , to us indispensibly necessary to

navigation . In the time of the Argonauts they were unacquainted with the anchorf- It is even extremely doubtful whether it was known in the age of Homer ; at-least the Greek word properly signifying an anchor never once occurs in his poems , nor is there a single allusion to its use . The Greeks , it . would appear , made use at that time of large stones instead of anchors . When Ulysses arrived at the road of the Lestrigons , he attached his bark to a rock with . cables . t . ' ¦

There is also every reason to believe that they were utterly unacquainted with the practice of founding . Homer at least never men-tionsit ; we find nothing elsewhere to contradict the conclusions drawn from his silence . Plence we may easil y conceive the dangers to which , in the heroic times , the Grecian navigators were exposed . With so slender a stock of naval skillit was impossible they

, could extend their navigation to any considerable distance . In fact , it was not till six hundred years after the Argonautic expedition , that the Greeks dared to enter into the ocean § , which they had long regarded as a sea to which there was no access . As to the Red Sea , and the Arabian and Persian Gul phs , there they were not seen till the days of Alexander the Great .

The inhabitants of the island of E gina may be regarded as the first . of the European Greeks who distinguished themselves bv their skill in maritime affairs . By their attention to their marine forces ,

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