Join us Saturday, 21 September for Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers:
an Illustrated Presentation with Author Tamara Thornton 

Register Here for the Lecture
Welcome & Refreshments at 10:30 AM, Lecture at 11:00 AM
Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose, NY

Rally on the River:  After the lecture, head over to NMHS headquarters at Charles Point for lunch with the author and to support Riverkeeper’s Rally on the River – a daylong festival bringing the community together to support the Hudson River with activities, food and music!

Festival Begins & NMHS Offices Open at 1:00 PM
Author Tamara Thornton On-Site Until 2:00 PM
National Maritime Historical Society, 5 John Walsh Blvd, Peekskill, NY

 

Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers with Author Tamara Thornton

Mariners and maritime history enthusiasts recognize Nathaniel Bowditch as the author of the New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, and long the must-have manual for America’s sailors. In her illustrated presentation, author, historian and Sea History contributor Tamara Thornton offers a fresh look at both the book and the man.  Just what made the Navigator so indispensable?  How much of it was new?  And did Bowditch really invent the lunar method of celestial navigation?

In his own day, Bowditch was famous for more than his maritime bestseller.  Celebrated by Thomas Jefferson as “a meteor of the hemisphere,” he was also a mathematician and astronomer—and a business executive whose devotion to systems that ran with the regularity of heavenly bodies shaped the faceless bureaucracies we associate today with modern life.

Come meet this peppery Yankee who voyaged around the globe, became a Fellow of London’s Royal Society, pioneered the business of trusts, and shook up Harvard.  Book signing will follow.

The Public is invited. Please register here or contact NMHS at 914-737-7878, ext. 0 if you plan to attend. A $5-$10 donation is appreciated.  After the lecture, NMHS will host a casual lunch at NMHS offices with the speaker —$15 prepaid.  Reservations are required for lunch.

 

Register Here