The first lecture concerning navigation. Read publickly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbiers academy, at Bednall-Greene.

The first lecture concerning navigation. Read publickly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbiers academy, at Bednall-Greene.

Table of contents

Title page

The first Lecture concerning NAVIGATION.

Concerning Navigation.

How the Sea belongs to the perfection of the Wo•ld, aud that the World would have perished without it; and how it engenders water.

Wherefore the water of the Sea is Saltish, and and that it is the best for the Navigati•n.

Of the different Motions which are in the Ocean Sea.

Wherefore the Sea doth not overflow, augment, nor inlarge.

Of the Antiquity of Navigation.

§

§

[Page]

THE FIRST LECTVRE, Concerning NAVIGATION.

Read Publickly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbier's ACADEMY, AT Bednall-Greene.

⟨Septemb20th .1649.⟩

LONDON, Printed by Gartrude Dawson, 1649.

The first Lecture concerning NAVIGATION.

[Page]

[Page]

AS the Deep declares at all times the mervellous wonders of that great Author guider, and preserver of all things, can it be otherwaies, but a marvellous occup [...]tion? and can it be but glorious to the mind of the creature to exercise it self on that whereon the spirit of God was pleased to move, before all things were?

Certainly, Navigation (whereof we shall now treate) cannot but afford a glorious delight to the mindes of lovers of knowledge as the Seas affords a world of wealth to those that make Navigation their Trade.

Is it not as rare as it is wonderfull? That with an Instrument so little as an Astralabe is, and [...]ith that called a Sea Compas: By the first, to measure the Circles of the Heavens the height and distance of the Sunne and Stars; by the second (which hath neither mouth, tongue, legs, nor hands) man is told, guided, and shewen where East, West, North, and South is (not onely) in the stediest case a vessel can be, but when the moved waves tosseth the same as towards the Clouds, and thence lets it reelas into an Abisme) No wonder Salomon the wisest of all men said, that the hardest to be found, is the way a Ship makes through the Seas. And is the wonder not the greater, that it findes the straight course thereof through that vaste perpetuall moving and removing body, as exactly when the firmament app [...]ars as black as Inck, and all the lights of Heaven are covered with the Night (as with an estinguisher) as well as at the clearest day.

[Page] Is it not a wonder above wond [...]rs that after so many months Navigations, & that after such varieties changes of Winds, intermixture of [...]tormes; the violence of tides so constantly changeable, a Vessel arives to the mouth of an Harbour, as straight as if it were a Ferryboat drawn by acord fastened from one shoare to the other.

With the [...]oyall Prophet David, let all men say, Qui descendunt mare in navibus, facientes operationem in aquis multis, ipsi viderunt opera Domini, & mirabilia ejus in profundo. Dixit, & stetit spiritus pr [...]cella: & exaltati sunt fluctus ejus; Ascendunt usque at coelos, & descendunt u [...]que ad abystos: anima eorum in malis t [...]b [...]scebat: Turbati sunt, & moti sunt sicut eb [...]ius; & omnis sap [...]entia eorum devorata est. Et clamaverunt ad Dominum eum tribularentur: & de necessitatibus eorum eduxit eos: Et statuit procellam ejus in auram: & siluerunt fluctus ejus; Et laetati sunt quia siluerunt: & deduxit eos in portum voluntatis eorum, confit [...]antur Domino misericordiae ejus & mirabilia ejus filiis hominum: That is, They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that doe businesse in great Waters; These see the works [...]f the Lord, and his wonders in the deep: For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy winde, which lifteth up the waves thereof; they mount up to the Heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel too and fro, and stagger like a drunken man▪ & are at their wits end. Then they cryed unto the Lord in their distresses: He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still; Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven: Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his go [...]dnesse, and for his wonderfull works to the Children of men. Psalm 106.

Let u [...] then take profit of this present meditation, wherein wee shall find the great benefit of the Art of Navigation, in that it doth not onely serve for the transportation of men and goods, from one [Page] part to the furthest of the world, and towards the which God was n [...]t pleased to prescribe any high wayes for Carts nor Horses, but to make m [...]n acquainted with all such parts, in which God doth man [...] f [...]st the varieties of his power, and of his bottomlesse treasuries, so with Nations; in some of which his divine fath [...]rly mercy is glorified, and his justice made more apparent, rendring man also more capable to participate of those numerous riches, [...] what the Ind [...]an precious shoa [...]es are garnished with, by all the golden bowels of the Earth, where nature by the Sun beams is made capable of suc [...] productions, by what the Mother w [...]mbe pearls is possest with by that wherwith Aarons breast was made so sh [...]ning gl [...]rious, man loads his Vessels as freely, as Carts on other grounds w [...]th the most ord [...]nary fruits and production of the Earth, Spices, and Balms, for the preservation and restauration of man; and in that plenty, as common fields in other parts produce Pease and Turnips, Flax, and Trees for T [...]rp [...]ntine.

Navigation, therefore may well be said to be for man, a Science the most profitable of all Arts; if man can make that use of it, as may justly draw blessings unto him; which is to be compast by doing that so earnestly wisht by the aforesaid King David. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse, and for his wonderfull works to the children of men.

And by being as ready to labour in his cause (in which no soul can suffer any ship-wrack) as to hazard life, ship, and goods, for transitory things.

Wee shall begin with the Sea, and say, first, what it is? and why it is called Ocean?

Concerning Navigation.

[Page]

[Page]

THE Sea is all the vast extent of Water which environs the Earth.

The Water hath been created by God; in principio creavit Deus Coelum & Terram, & Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. This is confirmed by the writs of Moses in his Generation or of-spring of this World.

The water doth engender and maintains it self in the Sea; the Rivers come from it, and return to it.

The Egyptians have made foure Elements; of each one whereof they have made two. The one Male, and the other Female: They doe believe that the Ayre which engenders the winde is the Male; and that which is loaden with clouds, and which doth not stirre, to be the Female. They call the Water of the Sea Male, and all other water Female.

They say, that the Fire (the flame whereof burns) is Male, and that which shineth (without doing harm) is the Female. They doe believe that the hardest Earth, as the Stons and Rocks are Males, and doe give the name of Female to that which is maniable.

It is called the Ocean Sea, by reason of its quick and continuall motion: for Oris in Greek, is to hasten, or else its called Oceane, quasi Cianeus; for it embraces the Rivers of the Earth.

It receives divers names, according to the diversitie of places, by the which it passes, as the Sea of China, India, Persia, &c.

[Page] The Sea hath no colour, for our sight doth not remain on the superficies of the water, but descends lower, and at a great distance, its colour is like that of Heaven; when it is disturbed by the Winds it is suscep [...]ible of divers colours.

The Sea [...]ses increasing seven dayes, which is called quick wa [...]er, and seven other dayes it retires decreasing, which is called dead water. Aristotle treats of the causes of the incre [...]sing a [...]d decreasing in the second of the Meteors; as also Hipocrates in the Book of the Ayre and water: where he sayes, That there is a proper cause of Astrologie, viz; by naturall vertue, the Moon has on the waters; therefore as the Moon increaseth, and [...]ecreaseth; so likewise doth the Sea:

The increasing and decreasing of the Sea shall be more at full discoursed of, in his proper time and place.

How the Sea belongs to the perfection of the Wo [...]ld, aud that the World would have perished without it; and how it engenders water.

THe world could not have been perfect without the Sea; forasmuch if ther were no begining of water, ther would be no water simply, and if there were no water simple also there would be no mixt; and thus there could not be any thing of that which is engendred by water; also there would be no body continued, and conglutinated to be found if there were no water.

Generation would be destroyed, and consequently all the Wo [...]ld, if there were no beginning of waters, as also there could not be found all the assemblings of contraries, which are possible.

[Page] Thus nature would faile to that which is unavoidably necessary, and failing to the same, the water would be hindered in the action: Whereof it would happen (there being no beginning of waters) that the workmanship of nature would perish, and consequently the world.

Aristotle in the second of the Meteors sayes that the waters of the Seas ingender in Septentrion: he will say that the greatest part of the waters of the Sea ingenders in Septentrion, as the great Albert in the second of the Meteor▪ sixth Chapter decla [...]es, where he sayes that the Sea runs from Septentrion to the Meridian. The cause thereof is, that its higher in Septentrion, then towards the Mer [...]dian; and the reason wherefore it is higher, is, because that the cold of the Septentrion engenders more water then the Sea could contain in the space, distance, and height of its coasts; The water which is in the Meridian consumes and deminish [...]s by the heat of the Sun; therefore one part of the Septentrion water drives the other back towards the lowermost side; yet neverthelesse doth move acci [...]entally from the place of its generation; because that it being moist, runs to be retained in the dry.

The reason why the water consumes it self so much in the Meridien part, is because that the Sun turns alwayes in his excentrique circle; its cen [...]er being not the same with that of the Earth: so that if the Diameter of the Circle of the Sun were passed between its center and that of the Earth; the greatest part of the Diameter would be at one side, and the lest at the other, in the consideration of the Center of the Earth.

Its shewen by Geometricall reason, that the greatest length of Diameter is neer the twent [...]eth degree of Gemini, and that the least length is at the twentieth degree of Sagitarius, opposite signe. It appears [...], that the Sunne approaches more neerer the Earth, in the Meridian Part then in the Septentrion: thus by its approaching heats in such a manner that it consumes the water and burns the Earth, which he doth not at the Septentrion.

Wherefore the water of the Sea is Saltish, and and that it is the best for the Navigati [...]n.

[Page]

[...]

[Page]

[...]

[Page]

THe matter which causes the S [...]a to be Saltish, is because that there are two sort [...] of vapours, viz. Hot and Moist, and Hot and Dry. The one whereof evaporates from the superficies of the Sea, and the other rai [...]eth it self from the bottom by force of the Suns heat, and that of the Stars, which are efficient causes of its vapours, and because that the vapour of the water is very subtill between these two; therefore it elevates its self in the ayre, and is consumed by the Sun, and there rema [...]neth nothing else but the exhalations of the earth, the which are dissipated, extended, and mingled among the water, as appears by the example of eating; for the disgeasted meat spreads and divides it self through the members, and all the grosse and undigested substance remains in such a manner also the V [...]pour of the Earth spread, remains amongst the substance of the water of the Sea; and the coldnesse of the water p [...]shes in such coldnesse, and consumes it self by coldnes [...]e; because of mingling by Antiperistacis, which is to say, for two contrary things joyned together, which becomes stronger then before; for the heat of the exhalation which issues from the bottom of the Sea, fortifies it self by the vertue of the Sun with its contrary, which is the coldnes: and thus the Heat overcomes, which is that which is required in the generation of the saltish taste.

It is also more convenient for Navigation, that the water be saltish then fresh, for the saltish water is heavier then the fresh: That it is so, its proved by many experiences, whereof the one is. Take fresh water and mingle it with [Page] a good quanti [...]y of salt, so that the salt melts, and be disolved in water; then take a fresh Eg, and put it on the mixtioned water; the thicknesse of the water which proceeds from the mixtion of the Salt, will bear the Eg by its thicknesse, and will swim over it, the which in the fresh water descends to the bottome. By this same experience is also demonstrated, that a Vessel will sinck sooner in fresh water then in salt water; for the fresh water divides it self sooner, and closes more lightly then the salt water.

Of the different Motions which are in the Ocean Sea.

GReat part of the water is engendred in Septentrion, and runs from S [...]pten [...]rion towards Meridien, as aforesaid, when the tide increases we doe see the Sea move at one side, and when it decreaseth it moves quite contrary, it beginneth first to decrease where it hath had the first increase.

Thus it appeares that the Sea hath contrary motions, and different the one from the other.

Seneca sayes, that there is no cause of the of the course waters from one place to the other, then the high and low places; Except that only motion by the which the Sea increaseth, and decreaseth; For as aforesaid) it followes the order of the Moon, For the water of the Sea increases and decreases in all the parts of the world, that is to say, in Orient, Occident, Septentrion and Meridien, and also it decreases in all the said parts, Therefore the Sea hath no proper place where it beginnes its increasing, or decreasing; And thus the water doth move by accident from one part to the other, except towards the bottome, for such a Motion doth not happen by accident, but by the proper essence agreeing to its Forme.

Wherefore the Sea doth not overflow, augment, nor inlarge.

[Page]

THe cause wherefore the Sea doth not overflow, augment, nor inlarge, though [...]o much water ingendreth in it and that it doth continually receive so many rivers and fountaine [...], Is that the Sea is the naturall receptable of all the waters, and their retyring place, and therefore it doth not overflow nor inlarge, for a place cannot drive back nor hinder the en [...]rance of the thing which by nature ought to be in her, since naturally the place ought to conforme it self with that which it incloses, as the Sea which is capable to receive in her all the Rivers, and neverthelesse ought not to overflow, nor augment, for their entrance, Also the Sea doth not overflow, because it is of such a vast extent, that the Rivers are as nothing in consideration to it, its also because the heat of the Sun and the Air of the Wind consumes such a quantity of water, that though the Sea continually eng [...]nders, and that the Rivers incessantly enter into it, God hath ordained that it should not lessen nor augment, as it is written in Job, Lord, thou hast set a Limite the which it shall not passe. The H [...]ly Writ sayes in Genesis, that the water of the Deluge did rise 15 cubits over the highest Hils under the Heavens, in so much that all the Earth was covered with water. But though this increasing of water was so great, yet neverthelesse the Sea did not overflow the earth, going out of its Limi [...]es, and bounds.

The increasing of the water did proceed of two causes, the one wa [...] that the Windowes of Heaven were opened, as the Text sayes, and it rained on the earth fourty dayes, and fourty nights exceedingly, the Fountains, Rivers, and Currents did overflow, in so much that the earth was covered [Page] therewith, as beforesaid, every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, except Noah, who onely remained alive, and they that were with him in the Ark, and afterwards the same Text sayes, That God made a winde to passe over the earth, which abated the water, The raine from Heaven was also restrained, and the earth returned in its first being.

Of the Antiquity of Navigation.

GOD the Creator of the universall world, did ordain [...]he making of the first Vessell, a [...] it is written in the six chapter of Genesiis, that God commanded Noah to make an Ark of Gopher wood, and to pitch it within and without with pitch, The length of the Ark was of three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

Those of Lydia were the first inventors of making of vessels, but they had no other invention then to joyne one beam to another well nailled, and well caulked.

Afterwards Epaminondas did set forth the vessels in perfection to Navigate.

The famous Captain Bias, was in the war of Peloponesse, with Ships, Carricks and Galleyes.

S [...]lomon King of Jerusalem, did send Vessels into Tharsis which went and came each third yeare, and brought Gold, Silver, Ivory, and divers other things.

Julus Solinus sayes, that all the Meridien Sea which embraces Africque, was navigated from the Indies to Spaine.

Plinie writes in the second Booke, threescore and seven chapter, that in his time all the circuit of Spaine and France was navigated and of all the Occident.

[Page] From the Isle of Cadiz which is at the entry of the Gibraltar straet to the Est Indian, was navigated before Plato's time.

When Tiberius Caesar did govern the Empire, there were seen in the Arabian Sea Ensignes of Vessels which the Spaniards had lost.

In the time of Augustus Caesar the greatest part of the Ocean Sea was navigated.

When Selucus and Antiocl [...]us did reign all the coast of the Caspien Sea was navigated and known by the Macedonian Armies.

The King of Switzerland gave to Metellus some Indians, which navigating with Marchandiz [...]s, were driven by a Tempest from their Country to Germany.

In the time of the Teutonickall Emperours, there were Est-Indian Ambassadours, found on the Germaine coast, which were driven thither by the force of the wind.

Some Authors write of great number and multitude of Ships which were in the anc [...]ent times, as those of the Assirians, Persians, Grecians, &c.

Homer writes that the Grecian Navy which came to Troy, had one thousand, one hundred and fourscore ships.

Xerces King of Persia, came with five thousand five hunderd Ships, seven hunderd thousand men, and three hunderd thousand of his Friends and Aliens to the Grecians destruction, and when he came to the Ponticke Sea he made a Bridge of Ships over it, on the which he passed with his Army.

[Page] The next Lecture concerning Navigation, will be of its use, How to foresee storms by the signes of the Sun, and the Moon, of Fires which appear when there are storms at Sea.

What the winde is, and its qualities, how it is engendered, what the 32 points of the Compasse are, to know by the Moon, at what houre it doth flow or is full Sea. And how to Saile by the Globe, &c.

Saturday next, God willing, there shall be a Lecture of Fortification.

Information about this book

Title statement

The first lecture concerning navigation. Read publickly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbiers academy, at Bednall-Greene.

Gerbier, Balthazar, Sir, 1592?-1667.

Edition statement

1649

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A85917

ID [STC]

Wing G556

ID [STC]

Thomason E574_14

ID [STC]

ESTC R206292

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99865466

ID [PROQUEST]

99865466

ID [VID]

117707

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A85917)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 117707)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 88:E574[14])

Source

— The first lecture concerning navigation. Read publickly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbiers academy, at Bednall-Greene., Gerbier, Balthazar, Sir, 1592?-1667..

Extent

13, [1] p.

Printed by Gartrude Dawson,. London :: 1649.. (Annotation on Thomason copy: "Septemb: 20th 1649.".) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.