Training - Navigator and geographer

It is as an explorer, navigator and geographer that I began my career of service to His Majesty in the New World. During my trips between France and New France, 23 by my last reckoning, I reached some conclusions as to the proper training for a geographer and navigator. This I described in my Treatise on Seamanship and the Duty of a Good Seaman.

“He should know if the instruments he uses are accurate and properly made, and in case of necessity, be able to construct others for his use….

He must know the difference of longitude between two places, not only along one parallel but along them all, and even the difference for those places which are on different degrees of latitude, as from Rome to the Straits of Gibraltar, and similarly for other places in the world.
He should know something about the regions, kingdoms, town, cities, countries, islands, seas, and similar peculiarities of land, something about their latitudes, longitudes and compass variations if possible, and chiefly along the coasts where navigation should be conducted: and if he knows all this by experience as well as in theory, I think he may be classed among first-rate navigators.”

Biggar, Works, Quoted in Goulson, p. 34-35

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