Bowditch

中譯本, First Page

I recently went to Palo Alto's Book Sale and found a heavy bound book, 'American Practical Navigator' by Nathaniel Bowditch.  If you attended UC Berkeley, you may notice a street named Bowditch nested between Telegraph and College.  If you ask more about this street, not many people can give you good answer. Somehow City of Berkeley got the vision to honor Mr. Bowditch by naming a street after him.  Lately I also encountered a school in Foster City named Bowditch Middle School.  A lunar crater is also named after him that lies on the far side of the moon. I wouldn't really pay attention to all of the above if I hadn't read a little children book,'奮學記', in Taipei 50 years ago.  The book was published by 兒童之友社 in HongKong.  I liked the book and glued to it for a few days when I was a kid in junior high. 

中譯本, Last Page

This book was translated from the English version 'Carry On, Mr. Bowditch' by 微明.  In later years I found the original English book (1955 by Jean Lee Latham, Houghton Mifflin Company) in Los Altos City Library.  I read it in English and compared to the Chinese translation.  To my amazement, I like the Chinese translation more than the original book.  Of course this does not mean the original work is inferior.  Instead, it may be my English understanding is not up to par.  This reminds me of the saying of 嚴復---信達雅, the essence of good translation. It is hard to find translated version conveying the meaning better than the original.  However, I found this '奮學記' really meeting this standard. The another one is '海的故事' for 'The Sea Around Us' translated by 夏道平.  I have read many biographies in my life.  I have to admit that this little book '奮學記' is one of the most inspiring book I have ever read.  Like most people, my life has up and down over the years.   In difficult time, I often told myself  'Carry On, Mr. Bowditch' or listened to Beethoven's symphonies.

Nathaniel Bowditch was an early American Navigator.  He came from a poor family in Salem and never received good education.  He became indentured at twelve for nine years as a bookkeeping apprentice to a ship chandler.  However, he educated himself by reading books from a local library.  Like most people in Salem, he was interested in sailing activities.  He learned all the essential sailing skills and mathematics required for sailing.  During his apprenticeship, he taught himself algebra, trigonometry and calculus.  He even read Newton's Principia Mathmatica and Laplace's Celestial Mechanics.  He found thousands of errors in John Hamilton Moore's The New Practical Navigator.  He eventually wrote his version of navigation book that later became a must book on every ship in US Navy.  Bowditch's influence on the American Practical Navigator was so profound that to this day mariners refer to it simply as Bowditch.  It was incredible that he read Newton's and Laplace's books in details and even found some minor errors in print.  His life was very much similar to that of Michael Faraday of England, a self-taught genius who went through a lengthy apprenticeship without formal education.

英文原本

American Practical Navigator

I bought this book, 'American Practical Navigator' in book sale.  I flipped over the pages and found a chapter very interesting, Cyclonic Storms.  He described the way to maneuver the ship out of the storms in details.  I sometime asked myself why I got into all these navigation stuff.  The only thing I can think of perhaps is the fact that I have been a navy officer during some part of my life.  This book has a hand signature by US Navy Captain, N.B. Clinch.  I have no practical use of this book.  For me, it is just a fond memory.  I am very glad I own the book in memory of Mr. Bowditch just like the city of Berkeley and Foster City.