Virginia, 14, Bright. South Carolina, 12, Payne. For temporary service: Conquest of Italy, 12, Watson. Galleys: Charleston. South Carolina. Beaufort. St. Marys. Savannah. Protector. Governor Williams. Governor Davie. Mars. V COMMANDING OFFICERS, 1798–1801 This list comprises all the captains appointed in the navy before 1801; also the masters and lieutenants commandant. Some of the revenue officers in command of the cutters were not transferred to the regular navy. A few officers appointed to command the galleys are not included. Officers retained in the navy after the war are indicated by italics. Captains: John Barry, June 4, 1794-Sept. 13, 1803. Samuel Nicholson, June 4, 1794-Dec. 29, 1811. Silas Talbot, June 4, 1794-Sept. 23, 1801. Richard Dale, June 4, 1794-Dec. 17, 1802. James Sever, July 18, 1794-June 18, 1801. Richard V. Morris, June 7, 1798-May 16, 1804. Patrick Fletcher, Sept. 9, 1798-1800. Jonathan Chapman, Sept. 10, 1798-Jan. 25, 1799. George Cross, Sept. 10, 1798-1801. Samuel Barron, Sept. 13, 1798-Oct. 29, 1810. Richard Derby, Feb. 22, 1799-May 12, 1801. Cyrus Talbot, May 21, 1799-Oct. 23, 1801. Timothy Newman, July 1, 1799-Aug. 15, 1800. William Cowper, July 13, 1799-April 3, 1801. Richard Law, Dec. 16, 1799-April 2, 1801. Charles C. Russell, Jan. 15, 1800-Oct. 23, 1801. Benjamin Hillar, Feb. 8, 1800-1800. John A. Spotswood, Feb. 15, 1800–June 4, 1801. Lieutenants Commandant: Charles Stewart, March 9, 1798. Archibald McElroy, March 11, 1798. William Maley, Aug. 1, 1799. David Porter, Oct. 8, 1799. Revenue Officers (not transferred to the navy): Francis Bright. John Brown. John W. Leonard. John Adams. James Payne. VI THE NAUTICAL DAY The confusion of the civil and the nautical day,1 resulting in the insertion of twenty-four imaginary hours, seems first to occur in the "Naval History" of Thomas Clark (1813); he was followed by Cooper and others. The error does not appear in earlier and contemporary accounts (see letter in the text, p. 166; also "Port Folio," January, 1809, p. 35). Investigation having called attention to the method of reckoning time used in the early days of the navy, a request for more precise information produced the following letter from Robert W. Willson, Professor of Astronomy in Harvard University:— CAMBRIDGE, January 3, 1909. DEAR DR. ALLEN, I send you what I have been able, in a limited time, to gather in regard to the "Nautical Day." The reliance of the English and American seaman of the last quarter of the eighteenth century was Moore's "Practical Navigator" of which the 13th edition was published at London in 1799. In this there is no trace of the usage in question. An American edition of Moore edited by Dr. Bowditch was published in 1799. In this I find on p. 223 the following: "Although the time used in the Nautical Almanac and sea account differ one day from each other. A second edition (1800) has the same phrase, p. 201. Dr. Bowditch published his "Practical Navigator" as an improvement on Moore's, and in the first edition, 1 See above, p. 166. day is reckoned from midnight to midnight, and is divided into 24 hours; the first 12 hours are marked A. M., the latter 12 hours P. M., being reckoned from midnight in numerical succession from 1 to 12, then beginning again at 1 and ending at 12. Astronomers begin their computation at the noon of the civil day, and count the hours in numerical succession, from 1 to 24, so that the morning hours are reckoned from 12 to 24. Navigators begin their computation at noon, 12 hours before the commencement of the civil day (and 24 hours before the commencement of the astronomical day); marking their hours from 1 to 12 A. M. and P. M. as in the civil computation." The same passage occurs in the subsequent editions till 1880. The copyright having become the property of the government in 1866, a complete revision was made under the direction of the Bureau of Navigation in 1881, in which the nautical day is ignored. The doctrine was taught at Comer's Commercial College in Boston certainly as late as 1858, though Coffin's text-book of about that date says now rarely used." 66 Bowditch's Navigator had an immediate success and came into competition with Moore's book on both sides of the Atlantic. I have in my library a copy of "The improved Practical Navigator. in a complete Epitome of Navigation originally written and calculated by Nathaniel Bowditch, revised, re-calculated, and newly arranged, by Thomas Kirby. second edition, London, 1806." This contains on p. 193 the following: "In addition to these modes some have thought it proper to notice a third which they have termed the nautical or sea day; |