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Article A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
to make for a harbour , or take to their oars : but the voyages of the Normans on the ocean , sufficiently indicate , that they knew how to use their sails , even when they had only a sidewind . It does not appea , r , however , that this great art of setting the sails of a ship according to the wind , was generally , known in those times ; as , of such as did possess it , it was affirmed , ' that as soon as their vessels had their lading , they had onlto set their sailsand set off directlywithout troubling
y , , themselves in the least from what quarter the wind blew . This property was attributed to the ship . called the Drache Ufanaut , and tp Freyer's ship the Sky dblander , in the Edda , and in Torsten ' s Viking , sons Saga . It was supposed , that this was effected by sorcery ; though , in fact , it proceeded from nothing more than a certain degree of fkill and dexterity in setting and shifting the sailsfounded on experience
, and mechanical science . This way of sailing with the wind half , or almost quite contrary , or , as it is called by the mariners , near the wind , is in reality one of the greatest and most ingenious inventions made by man . As the mariner ' s compass has diirty-two points from which the wind may blow , and which have been distinguished by
peculiar names ; and from which soever of these the wind blows , it is m the power of the mariner to avail himself of one and the same wind , to carry him to twenty different points or quarters of the globe ; so that , the six points excepted which are on each side pf the line of direction in which the wind blows , he is able to sail with this wind . on any other course . In A . C . 9 82 or 9 83 a new country was discovered . One Eric
, Raude , or Redhead , being condemned to banishment for many misdemeanors , determined to make a voyage of discoveries . Being informed by one Gunbiorn that a large country- was sifuated west of Iceland , he sailed thither , and entered a place now called Eric's Sound , where he wintered , and next year made further discoveries along the coastand returned , in the ' third year to Iceland ; to the
, p lace he had discovered he gave the name of Greenland . From the report he gave of the place , several vessels with colonists embarked to settle there . This is the common account of the discovery and settlement of Greenland , although it is asserted that Greenland was known long before .
To this dreary country several voyages were made ; fome with a view of further discovery , others of settling . Bat a voyage made from Iceland demands particular attention . An Icelander , of the name of Herjolf , " was accustomed , together with his son Biorn , to make a trip every year to different countries , for the sake of trading . About the year 1001 , their ' ships were separated by a storm . Biorn being arrived
at Norway , ' heard that his father Herjolf was gone to Greenland . Upon this he resolved upon following his father thither ; but another storm drove him a great way to the south-west of his track . In consequence of this , lie descried aflat country , covered all over with thick woods ; and just as he set out ' on-his return , he discovered an island likewise . He nia'de no stay at either of th * ese places , but hastened as much as the wind would allow h'im to do , ' whicn had now fallen greatly , by a north-easterly course CO Greenland . Here this event was no .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
to make for a harbour , or take to their oars : but the voyages of the Normans on the ocean , sufficiently indicate , that they knew how to use their sails , even when they had only a sidewind . It does not appea , r , however , that this great art of setting the sails of a ship according to the wind , was generally , known in those times ; as , of such as did possess it , it was affirmed , ' that as soon as their vessels had their lading , they had onlto set their sailsand set off directlywithout troubling
y , , themselves in the least from what quarter the wind blew . This property was attributed to the ship . called the Drache Ufanaut , and tp Freyer's ship the Sky dblander , in the Edda , and in Torsten ' s Viking , sons Saga . It was supposed , that this was effected by sorcery ; though , in fact , it proceeded from nothing more than a certain degree of fkill and dexterity in setting and shifting the sailsfounded on experience
, and mechanical science . This way of sailing with the wind half , or almost quite contrary , or , as it is called by the mariners , near the wind , is in reality one of the greatest and most ingenious inventions made by man . As the mariner ' s compass has diirty-two points from which the wind may blow , and which have been distinguished by
peculiar names ; and from which soever of these the wind blows , it is m the power of the mariner to avail himself of one and the same wind , to carry him to twenty different points or quarters of the globe ; so that , the six points excepted which are on each side pf the line of direction in which the wind blows , he is able to sail with this wind . on any other course . In A . C . 9 82 or 9 83 a new country was discovered . One Eric
, Raude , or Redhead , being condemned to banishment for many misdemeanors , determined to make a voyage of discoveries . Being informed by one Gunbiorn that a large country- was sifuated west of Iceland , he sailed thither , and entered a place now called Eric's Sound , where he wintered , and next year made further discoveries along the coastand returned , in the ' third year to Iceland ; to the
, p lace he had discovered he gave the name of Greenland . From the report he gave of the place , several vessels with colonists embarked to settle there . This is the common account of the discovery and settlement of Greenland , although it is asserted that Greenland was known long before .
To this dreary country several voyages were made ; fome with a view of further discovery , others of settling . Bat a voyage made from Iceland demands particular attention . An Icelander , of the name of Herjolf , " was accustomed , together with his son Biorn , to make a trip every year to different countries , for the sake of trading . About the year 1001 , their ' ships were separated by a storm . Biorn being arrived
at Norway , ' heard that his father Herjolf was gone to Greenland . Upon this he resolved upon following his father thither ; but another storm drove him a great way to the south-west of his track . In consequence of this , lie descried aflat country , covered all over with thick woods ; and just as he set out ' on-his return , he discovered an island likewise . He nia'de no stay at either of th * ese places , but hastened as much as the wind would allow h'im to do , ' whicn had now fallen greatly , by a north-easterly course CO Greenland . Here this event was no .