As in other fields of practical mathematics, such as cartography, astronomy, surveying, or even astrology, England lagged well behind other European countries when it came to the introduction of informal and formal instruction in navigation in the Early Modern Period. Today, we return with another post in the series illustrating the endeavours made to close the gap in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Like other North European countries, the English first borrowed a text from the Iberian Peninsula, with Richard Eden’s translation into English, in 1561, of the Breve compendio de la sphera y de la arte de navegar, con nuevos instrumentos y reglas, exemplificado com muy subtiles demostraciones by the Spanish cosmographer Martín Cortés de Albacar (1510–1582) from 1551. A book known mostly as the Arte de navegar or the Breve compendio. The first book on navigation by an Englishman was written by William Bourne (c. 1535–1582) of Gravesend.[1]
As with many minor figures from the sixteenth century, we know very little about the man and his life. He was the son of another William Bourne who died in 1560 and the first mention of him is in the first charter of incorporation of Gravesend, granted 22 July 1562, where he appears on the list of jurats of the town. A jurat is a councilman or alderman. He was listed in the same office again in the second charter, granted 5 June 1568. There is a note in the town archives that indicate that he was an innkeeper. He got fined for serving short measure. In the dedication to Admiral Sir William Wynter (c. 1521–1589), Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy and Master of Navy Ordnance, in his Treasure for Travellers(1572/3) he writes:
I have most largely tasted of your benevolence towards me, being as a poore gunner serving under your worthiness…
Later in book iii Chapt. 9 he writes:
I am neither Naupeger or Ship-carpenter, neither usual Seaman.
A Naupeger is a shipwright. Treasure for Travellers is a manual on the maintenance and repair of ships. He was probably a shore based naval gunner most likely serving in the Gravesend Bulwark or Blockhouse or across the river in Tilbury Fort.
He wrote two books on gunnery in 1572/73, one of which, William Bourns booke of artillery, remained in manuscript. The other, Art of Shooting in Great Ordnance, was published in 1572 and saw new editions in 1578, 1587, and 1643. He later became a skilled surveyor and served was port-reeve for Gravesend. When he died, he left a widow and four sons. The Poet Gabriel Harvey (c. 1552–1631), writing in 1593 said, “a gunner…unlectured in Schooles or unlettered in bookes…”
His first printed book, published in 1567, of which no copies survive was, An Almanack and Prognostication for iii yeres, with serten Rules of Navigation.
Almanacs and prognostica were amongst the most frequently published texts in the first two hundred and fifty years of publishing. Gutenberg printed and published a single sheet astronomical/astrological wall calendar before he published his famous bible. The first English almanac, a translation of a French work, The Kalendayr of shyppers, which contained a calendar and a description of the Ptolemaic cosmos, was published in 1503, and went through numerous editions. There were almanacs conceived for astronomer, physicians, scholars and students, and simpler ones for the less educated, which included ship-masters. There were broadsheet editions and pocket almanacs, which contained a calendar and simple astronomical information and weather forecasts. Full scale almanacs, which contained the chief astronomical events of the year and the terrestrial events dependent upon them–including conjunctions and oppositions of the sun and moon for the year, tables of the sun’s declination, some star positions, rules for using the North Star, and rules for compilation of the calendar. The day started at noon and the year at the vernal equinox.
Such almanacs often covered a period of four years, because the year is approximately 3651/4 and not 365 days long, sun declination tables have to be recalculated after four years.
Prognostica were rare in England until the repeal of the 1541 Act against sorcery in 1547. Later almanacs were published bound together with a prognostica, as in the case of Bourne’s 1567 text. By now almanacs often had lunar tables, tide tables, solar declination tables, descriptions of methods for determining latitude and other information of use for mariners, so Bourne’s edition of rules for navigators was a natural progression. There had been a flood of new almanacs on the English market since Leonard Digges (c. 1515–c. 1559) had first published his A Prognostication everlasting in 1556. In a later edition of which, in 1576, his son Thomas Digges (c. 1546–1595) published the first English account of Copernican astronomy his A Perfit Description of the Caelestiall Orbes according to the most aunciente doctrine of the Pythagoreans, latelye revived by Copernicus and by Geometricall Demonstrations approved.
Bourne, as we will see, belonged to the circle of Dee and the Digges. Thomas Digges became Dee’s foster son following the death of his father. As such Bourne’s publications on navigation belong to the rapidly widening awareness of the importance of practical mathematics in England the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
Bourne reissued his almanac in 1571, An Almanac and Prognostication for Three Years. Why three years rather than four is not clear. It contains sixteen rules for navigators. The title of this blog post is the first sentence of the first rule, which is:
The first rule is of a good Navigator.
Of all sciences that is used with us in England, Navigation is one of the principall and most necessary for the benefite of our Realme and native country and also most defencible against our enemies, because we lie environed rounde aboute with the sea.
Rule two explains the compass, three and four the computation of the tides. Five and six deal with the zodiac and the declination of the sun, seven and eight how to take the altitude of the sun and the pole star. Nine deals with the distance to raise or lay a degree, and eleven and twelve dealt with longitude. Thirteen and fourteen give the longitude and latitude of English towns and of fixed stars. Fifteen explained how to sail by the globe. Finally rule ten dealt with sounding and sixteen how to find the hours of the day by compass, both rules being useful for both pilots and navigators.
In 1570, one year before Bourne’s second almanac, John Dee’s The Mathematicall Praeface to the Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara in the Billingsley English translation of The Elements of Euclid was published.
This publication had a major impact on the acceptance and the recognition of the importance of the mathematical science in England. In the preface Dee presented detailed analysis of the arts of hydrography and navigation. This almost certainly inspired Bourne to expand his rules for navigation into a full-blown handbook for navigation, his A Regiment for the Sea, in 1574 when the three years covered by his almanac had run their course. Here regiment is a synonym for rule.
Bourne said his best contribution to his country would be a simple manual of navigation for the simplest sort of seafaring man. He stated that Regiment for the Sea was “as it were a Nosegay whose Floures are of myne owne gathering” and that it contained nothing already in Matin Cortes’ Arte of Navigation. However, it is obviously inspired by the earlier work but was not a paraphrase, as it contains much that is original.
The Regiment for the Sea is basically a much-expanded version of his sixteen rules from his almanac but also contains original material. Apart from anything else it contains very detailed accounts of how to determine latitude in norther waters during the summer when the sun never sets.
Perhaps, the most interesting new content is the first published description of the use of the recently invented log-line for determining the speed of the ship. At the time a somewhat controversial and disputed instrument that would become a standard navigation instrument from about the second quarter of the seventeenth century onwards.
David Waters in his Art of Navigation summarises the Regiment for the Sea thus:
The Regiment was a practical manual, written by a man who, if not practiced in the art of the sea, had the sea-breeze in his nostrils, seamen at his elbows, and the rare faculties of quick comprehension and lucid exposition. Its essential feature was that it supplemented Cortes’s Arte of Navigation in exactly the right way–where it is weakest. Cortes’s manual was valuable to the navigator chiefly for its detailed descriptions of how to make the principal instruments for navigation; Bourne’s manual, apart from its innovations and simplifications, was valuable chiefly for its detailed instructions on how to use the instruments[2].
A regiment for the Sea was a major success and went through at least eleven editions to 1631, the 1592 edition was edited by Thomas Hood (1556–1629). It was also translated into Dutch with the first edition appearing in 1594, this was followed by at least two further editions.
Another book is Bourne’s Inventions or Devises. Very Necessary for all Generalles and Captaines, as wel by Sea as by Land which was published in 1578 and contains 113 numbered devices. Much of the material is a continuation of his Treasure for Travellers and his Art of Shooting in Great Ordnance, as well as a lot of military advice for sieges etc. However, the book contains some truly fascinating entries. The 21. Deuise is a fairly detailed description of log-line, the invention of which he attributes to Humfray Cole (died 1591) one of the earliest scientific instrument makers in England and a native unlike Thomas Gemini (c. 1515–1562), who was a Flemish refugee, and Nicolas Kratzer (1487–around 1550), who was German.
The 18. Deuise is one of the earliest descriptions of how to construct a submarine:
ANd also it is possible to make a Ship or a Boate that may goe vnder the water vnto the bottome, and so to come vp againe at your pleasure, as this, as I haue decla∣red in my Booke called The Treasure for trauellers,in the 4. Booke called Staticke, that any thing that sinketh, is hea∣uier than the proportion of so much water, and if it bee lighter than the magnitude of so much water, then it swimmeth or appeareth aboue the water, according vnto the proportion of weight, and then this being true, as it is most certaine, then any magnitude or body that is in the water, if that the quantity in bignesse, hauing alwaies but one weight, may bee made bigger or lesser, then it shall swimme when you would, and sinke when you list: and for to make any thing doo so, then in the ioyntes or places that doo make the thing bigger and lesser, must be of lea∣ther, and in the inside to haue Skrewes to winde it in and also out againe: and for to haue it sinke, they must winde it in to make the thing lesse, and then it sinketh vnto the bottome: and to haue it swimme, then to winde the sides out againe, to make the thing bigger, and it will swimme, according vnto the body of the thing in the water. And to make a small Ship or Barke or Boate, do this, the Barke being made of purpose, let there be good store of Balest in the bottome of hir, and ouer the Balest as lowe as may be, let there be a close Orloppe, such a one, that no water may come into it, and then in like manner at a sufficient heigth, to haue another close Orlop that no water may come through it, and that being done, then bore both the sides full of holes betweene the two close Orlops: and that being done, then make a thing like the side of the Barke or Ship that may goe vnto the side of the Ship, the one for the one side, and the other for the other side, and that must be made so tight and close, that no water may come thorough it, and that done, then take leather, such a quan∣titie as is sufficient for to serue your purpose, and that lea∣ther must bee nayled close, with such prouision, that no water may soake thorough it, and to be of that largenesse, that the thing may goe close vnto the Barke or Ship side when you would, and come in againe, to let sufficient wa∣ter in, that it shall not be able to swimme. And now this being done, then you must make prouision of Skrewes or other engines, to winde the two things on the insides of the Barke or Ships, that you may winde them in or out at your pleasure and that done, then for the hatch or Skotel, that you must goe in or out, you must haue leather round about it, that you may bring that together as a pursse mouth, and so with a small Skrewe, you may winde it so close together, that being in the bottome of the water, there shal no water come in, and that done, then you must haue one Mast, that must bee of such sufficient bignesse, that it must haue a hole bored thorough the one end vnto the other, as a Pompe hath: and that done, then when that you list to nnke, then you must sound the deepenesse of the water, and foresee that the water will not rise higher than the top of the Mast, for the hole that goeth thorough the Mast must giue you ayre, as man cannot liue without it: & now when you would sinke, then with your Skrewes winde the two sides inwards, and water will come into the holes, and so the Ship or Barke will sinke vnto the bottome, and there it may rest at your pleasure: and then when that you would haue it swimme, then with the Skrewes winde out the things on both the sides, and that will thrust the water out againe at the holes, and so it will rise and come vp aboue the water, and swimme as it did before, &c.
Bourne never attempted to construct this craft.
The 19. Deuise is a description of how to construct a boat powered by paddle wheels.
ANd furthermore, you may make a Boate to goe without oares or Sayle, by the placing of certaine wheeles on the outside of the Boate, in that sort, that the armes of the wheeles may goe into the water, and so turning the wheeles by some prouision, and so the wheeles shall make the Boate to goe.
The 23. Deuise is a diving suit:
ANd furthermore, they may make such prouision that any man may goe downe vnto the bottome of the wa∣ter, and remaine there at his pleasure, as this: first pre∣pare leather, and make a case of it in this manner. First for his head, and that must bee made large ynough, and then there must bee two holes for his eyes, and then set in Glasse, and make it tight round aboutes it, and so make the body and the sleeues for his armes, and to bee closed so close, that no water may come into it. And that done, then there must bee a long Truncke made of Leather that must bee hollowe within, that must bee longer than the deepenesse of the water, and that must bee tighte too, and then at the vppermost ende or top there must bee a bowle, or such a thing that will swimme, that through the Truncke that is like a rope, the ayre may passe downe vnto him that is in the bottome of the water, and so the man that is put in∣to the case of Leather, and that beeing made tyght, that no water may come in vnto him, and especiallie vnto his Mouth and Nose, and so to haue ayre to come downe thorough the Trunck of leather, then he hauing sight thorough the Glasse, hee shall bee able to endure to tarrie in the water, and also to see in the water how for to make ropes fast vnto any thing that is sonke in the wa∣ter, &c.
Entries 107, 109, and 110 take us into the world of sixteenth-century optics.
The 109. Deuise explains the use of burning lenses.
AS it is not vnknowne in respect vnto all persons, that you may burne any thing that is apt to burne with a glasse at hand, which is done by the Sunne beams pearsing through the glasse, for that the Sunne beames bee vnited and knit all together in the center thereof, which is the ve∣ry cause that it burneth, and as we doo reade that Archi∣medes burned the Romane Nauie at Syracusa in the Iland of Sicilia, some haue supposed that he did burne thē with such kind of glasses, which is most vnpossible: wherfore it must needes be, that they were burned with diuers glasses, and the reflection of the Sunne beames turned vnto them. But this is to be noted, that it is possible that fewer glasses may serue to burne any thing there in that Latitude, than that it will doo here in this Latitude, for that the Sunne beames be more hoter: for the Latitude of Syracusa is but fiue and thirtie degrees and a halfe, and to burne anything any great distance off with glasses, it requireth to haue some sight in Geometrie, or els it is not possible for to doo it, and for to burne any thing that is apt to burne, it must bee thus handled: they must prepare a number of glasses made of mettall, such as the common people call of steele, made of purpose, and well polished, and to place those glasses to burne, as if that it were gunne powder, flaxe or towe, or occom, pitch, tarre, or such like things that will take fire quickly, the Sunne shining very bright: then set the glasse against the Sunne, and then turne the reflection beame or shadowe to the place assigned that you would burne, and then place another glasse in the like manner, and turne the reflection beame or shadow vnto that place in like manner, right vppon the first ende of the beame or shadowe, and so to place more glasses, and to bee sure that all the reflected beames or shadowes doo rest vppon one place, and so by a great number of glasses to multiply the heate, that in the ende it will bee set on fire and burne: but you must be sure that all the reflected beames or sha∣dowes doo rest in one place, or else it will be vnto no pur∣pose, and at a great distance you shall haue much to doo to decerne or see it, &c. Wherefore you must haue the ayde of Geometry, to vse it according vnto the distance, and to place the glasses in a frame, which I doo omit at this time for breuitie.
Both the 107. Device and the 110. Device appear to describe some form of proto-telescope.
The 107. Deuise appears to me to be a possible description of a camara obscura but I wouldn’t bet on it.
ANd furthermore, it is possible for to place a glasse in a chamber or a parler in a house, for to see any thing a∣broade in the fields, or if that it be neere vnto any hauen or riuer where as shippes or boates doo passe too and fro, that they may see in the glasse within the house, the things that are abroade, as playnely as if that they should goe abroade and get them vp vnto some high hill, or high tower, for to see them of purpose, the which thing is ve∣ry necessarie, either for men of Honour or Gentlemen for to beholde in their chambers what is abroade in some such partes of their ground, as they haue any plea∣sure for to beholde and see into it, what is stirruing: there∣fore that quantitie that it will shewe as their Deere in their parkes, or cattell in their pastures, or what persons that there is stirring in their Gardens or Orchardes: and also it is very necessarie for a Captaine or the Generall of a Towne, Forte or Castell, whether that it be in such pla∣ces, that is, within the lande, or that they haue any charge to looke towards the sea or hauen, or riuer, it is very ne∣cessary for them, for that the glasses may be so placed, that they may see if that there bee any ships comming or go∣ing in the sea, riuer or Hauen, or any persons in the high way. But the greatest impediment that the glasses haue, you shall see no great circuite of grounde in compasse, ex∣cept that the glasses be very large, and also the windowe that the sight commeth in at, be large in like manner, &c. And furthermore▪ for the placing of a glasse in a cham∣ber or parlour, to see the things abroade, it must bee thus done, first you must prepare diuers glasses of a great pro∣portion, that are very perfect and good looking glasses, either of steele or Christall, and that done, the place must bee viewed where that it must stand, for it is not possible to place a glasse in some chabers to see any thing abroad, but it must be in such a chamber as is conuenient for the purpose, that hath a very high roufe, and that hath win∣dowes that are of a great heigth from the floore, or else some high Tower neare vnto it, &c. And if that the place be conuenient for that purpose, then this you must doo first, the place must bee assigned that you would see in the glasse, and then whether the place bee farre of or nearer, then you must place the first glasse alofte against a win∣dowe that is open vnto that place, and that done, if that it be very high, then turne the shadowe of the glasse ac∣cordingly as you doe see cause for your purpose, bring∣yng the beame downewardes: and agaynst that glasse place an other glasse to receyue the beame or shadowe, of the thyngs abroade, and that done, you may turne the beame or shadowe of that glasse downewardes vn∣to what place that you liste, and so place an other glasse agaynst that at your discretion, and so to place as many glasses, vntill that you haue brought it vnto the place that you woulde bryng it vntill, and then to sette all the glasses fast, for if that any of them bee sturred neuer so little, then the beame or shadowe will be turned out of the glasse, &c. And by this meanes you may conuey the beame or shadow of any thyng by glasses made of due proportion from one place vnto an other, vntill that you haue brought it vnto what place you doe desire at your pleasure, and so by that meanes to see in a house what things be abroade.
The 110. Deuise there is much debate in the literature on what exactly Bourne is describing here.
FOr to see any small thing a great distance of from you, it requireth the ayde of two glasses, and one glasse must be made of purpose, and it may be made in such sort, that you may see a small thing a great distance of, as this, to reade a letter that is set open neare a quarter of a myle from you, and also to see a man foure or fiue miles from you, or to view a Towne or Castell, or to see any window or such like thing sixe or seauen myles from you. And to declare what manner of glasses that these must bee, the one glasse that must be made of purpose, is like the small burning glasses of that kinde of glasse, and must bee round, and set in a frame as those bee, but that it must bee made very large, of a foote, or 14. or 16. inches broade, and the broader the better: and the propertie of this glasse, is this, if that you doo behold any thing thorow the glasse, then your eye being neare vnto it, it sheweth it selfe accor∣ding vnto the thing, but as you doo goe backwardes, the thing sheweth bigger and bigger, vntill that the thing shall seeme of a monstrous bignesse: but if that you doo goe to farre backe, then it will debate and be smal & turne the fashion downewards. But now to vse this glasse, to see a small thing a great distance, then doo this, the thing or place that you would view and discerne, set that glasse fast, and the middle of the glasse to stand right with the place assigned, and be sure that it doo not stand oblique or awry by no meanes, and that done, then take a very fayre large looking glasse that is well polished, & set that glasse directly right with the polished side against the first glasse, to the intent to receiue the beame or shadow that cōmeth thorow the first placed glasse, and set it at such a distance off, that the thing shall marke the beame or shadowe so large, that it may serue your turne, and so by that meanes you shall see in the looking glasse a small thing a great di∣stance, for if that the first placed glasse be well made, and very large, you may descerne and knowe the fauour or phisnomie of a man a mile of from you: wherefore in my opinion, this is very necessary in diuers respects, as the viewing of an army of men, and such other like causes, which I doo omit, &c.
Fred Watson in his book Stargazer: the life and times of the Telescope (Da Capo Press, 2004) thinks that Bourne is describing a “window telescope” as marketed in the 1920s but I have my doubts.
There is a more extensive text on optics from Bourne A treatise on the properties and qualities of glasses fror optical purposes, according to the making, polishing, and grinding of them, which only exists in manuscript and was never published. It was dedicated to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghly, Lord High Treasurer, who had apparently questioned Bourne on the topic. Albert Van Helden in his Invention of the Telescope (American Philosophical Society, 1977 describes it as “a very useful review of the state of the art” and you can read the whole text in Van Helden’s book. In the final part of the text Bourne writes:
For that there ys dyvers in this Lande, that can say and dothe know muche more, in these causes, than I: and especially Mr. Dee and also Mr. Thomas Digges, for that by theyre Lerninge, they have read and seene moany moo [sic] auctors in these causes…
[…]
And so yt ys possible, that yt may bee hepped and furdered the one glasse with the other, as the concave looking glasse with the other gounde and polished glasse. That yt ys likely yt ys true to see a smalle thing, of a very greate distance. For that that the one glasse dothe rayse and enlarge, the beam of the other so wonderfully. So that those things that Mr. Thomas Digges hathe written that his father hathe done, may bee accomplished very well, withowte any dowbte of the matter : But that the greatest impediment ys, that yow can not beholde, and see, but smaller quantity at a tyme.
The text of Thomas Digges that Bourne is referring to is in his completion and publication of his father’s book Pantometria in 1571:
The combination of the Digges’ text and Bourne’s elucidation of it has led some historian of science, most notably Colin Ronan (1920–1995), to claim that the Digges invented a reflecting telescope but both Watson and Van Helden dismiss this claim, arguing that they lacked to necessary technical ability to produce lenses and mirrors of the required quality.
Telescope aside, William Bourne is a truly fascinating figure, a self-educated man who contributed significantly to the development of the mathematical disciplines, most notably navigation, in England in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
[1] For an excellent study of the birth of modern navigational instruction in the Iberian Peninsula and its gradual transfer to the other European seagoing nations see Margaret E. Schotte’s excellent Sailing School: Navigating Science and Skill, 1550–1800, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, which I reviewed here.
[2] David Waters, The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Times, Yale University Press, 1958 p. 143. As we other posts in this series, the entire post is extensively but by no means exclusively informed by Waters’ excellen tome.t