Transfer of nautical knowledge from U.S.A to Europe in the nineteenth-century: The case of the summer line position and its introduction into Spain

Abstract

Modern celestial navigation has its foundations on the graphic method for fixing the ship's position, discovered in 1837 by the Captain of the U.S. Merchant Marine, Thomas H. Sumner. After being published, in 1843, this method was quickly adopted by U. S. navigators, thanks to Matthew F. Maury, at the time in charge of the Hydrographic Service in Washington. In Europe, on the contrary, the spread of Sumner's method was uneven. In order to analyse its introduction in Spain, an examination of Spanish specialised journals and texts, published during the nineteenth century, has been carried out. The results, shown in this work in chronological order, have been interpreted in the light of the complex political situation which shaped the progress of science and technology in the nineteenth-century Spain.