Navigation (1)

This week I have finished collecting and developing materials for a new unit of my second manuscript about medieval seamanship. I have also included some illustrations from wikipedia. I am going to have a fortnight’s break before going on. This will be unit 3 of my manuscript about a medieval encounter between East and West. The unit will include 9 chapters.

Medieval Navigation (3)

I have completed my research on European navigation during the Late Middle Ages, i.e. 1300-1500. What is left now is to write the last chapter on portolan charts and review the whole unit. It is going to be the largest unit of my second book about medieval encounters between the West and the East. I speak about galleys and sailing ships, spice trade, compass, nautical guides, and portolan charts.

I also decided to reread important articles and books that has influenced my writing. This is for the future review of the whole unit.

Medieval Navigation (2)

I am writing a series of articles (a unit from my future book) about medieval ships, foreign trade, and navigation. I would like to research if medieval European mariners had powerful ships to take blue water courses, why they sailed that far, and how they knew how to get to their destination. This week I finished a draft copy of a chapter about dead reckoning and the compass. The known facts and citations are laid out in such a way as to explain that in the course of the 14th century mariners were ready to travel all weather, every season, day and night. I also developed extracts for my next chapter about portolan charts. I tried to find facts and documents relating to their shipboard use in spite of their drawbacks. I also collected material about toleta de marteloio. This is the last part of my research. I will certainly need to reread very important monographs that I encountered during my research.