Glossary of the Journal
Captain- The leader of the settlement group. Originally Jesse DeForest, probably Johannes De La Montague after Jesse's death.
Letterwood- Also known as leopardwood. A wood with a distinct spotted pattern that was highly valued at the time. For more information click here.
Master- The captain of the ship. Ships and their Masters: Pigeon- Pieter Fredericsz of Harlem, Green Dragon- Gelyn van Stapels of Flushing. They also meet Vice Admiral Lucifer who originally is on the Black Eagle. When the ships split up he transfers his command to the Green Dragon. The settlers then transfer from the Green Dragon to the Black Eagle.
Pinnace- The ships boat. A smaller craft used for traveling to shore and excursions in the local area.
Tacking- A method of sailing a ship against the wind. Requires a zig zag movement and is quite annoying and tiresome.
Letterwood- Also known as leopardwood. A wood with a distinct spotted pattern that was highly valued at the time. For more information click here.
Master- The captain of the ship. Ships and their Masters: Pigeon- Pieter Fredericsz of Harlem, Green Dragon- Gelyn van Stapels of Flushing. They also meet Vice Admiral Lucifer who originally is on the Black Eagle. When the ships split up he transfers his command to the Green Dragon. The settlers then transfer from the Green Dragon to the Black Eagle.
Pinnace- The ships boat. A smaller craft used for traveling to shore and excursions in the local area.
Tacking- A method of sailing a ship against the wind. Requires a zig zag movement and is quite annoying and tiresome.
Editor Notes on the Maps
While I have done my best to pinpoint the locations mentioned in the journal I have had several difficulties, not the least of which being that I am a normal person and not a historian. Therefore, I will attempt to explain all discrepancies here.
Jesse Pre-trip
The map markers note the location of the towns that Jesse lived in and a probable route that he may have taken traveling between them. I am unaware where he lived exactly in each town.
The map markers note the location of the towns that Jesse lived in and a probable route that he may have taken traveling between them. I am unaware where he lived exactly in each town.
The Journal
Again for most locations they are approximates. The journal itself isn't extremely detailed and Google maps does not let you place markers by coordinates yet.
All entries made out at sea are extremely rough guesses of the ships position. While the journal does mention coordinates it only has latitude, not longitude as well. This is due to the limitations of the day. At the time they used "dead reckoning" to travel. It is fairly easy to determine ones latitude using a sextant and the position of the stars. However, in order to determine longitude it is necessary to calculate the difference between local noon time and the noon at a given reference point. This required an accurate clock that could withstand the rigors of sea travel. It was so important for navigation that the British would eventually offer a prize of £20,000, a small fortune, for the invention of just such a clock. Unfortunately, it would not be invented for more then a hundred years after our voyage.
So to figure out where the ship was, they would take the ship's starting position and knowing how fast it traveled, they would estimate the ship's position. That's right they guessed! Needless to say, this caused many accidents where ships were not where they thought they were and slammed into the coast or rocks. Hence, the "dead" in the dead reckoning. So I know the ship's latitude, which is about as much as they themselves knew, and had to guess how far into the Atlantic they were. For more on dead reckoning click here. For more on the discovery of longitude click here.
For expediency and to keep it interesting I did not put the entire journal on the map. Many of the entries are in the vein of "we are at such and such latitude traveling in this direction" or "we arrived at this place and it had green fields, good for a colony." I stuck to entries that I personally found interesting, so there is some editorial bias here. If you would like to read the full unedited journal you can do so online here.
When a journal entry mentions a place by name that's where I place the marker. They may not have stopped at each place, but it gives you an rough idea of where they were.
It was easy finding the ships location up until it reached South America. Unfortunately, almost all of the place names in South America have changed since the voyage of the Pigeon. To find the locations I took the names from the journal and placed them on the expedition's maps. Then I cross referenced their maps with current maps of the area, so again my efforts are probably not that accurate.
Again for most locations they are approximates. The journal itself isn't extremely detailed and Google maps does not let you place markers by coordinates yet.
All entries made out at sea are extremely rough guesses of the ships position. While the journal does mention coordinates it only has latitude, not longitude as well. This is due to the limitations of the day. At the time they used "dead reckoning" to travel. It is fairly easy to determine ones latitude using a sextant and the position of the stars. However, in order to determine longitude it is necessary to calculate the difference between local noon time and the noon at a given reference point. This required an accurate clock that could withstand the rigors of sea travel. It was so important for navigation that the British would eventually offer a prize of £20,000, a small fortune, for the invention of just such a clock. Unfortunately, it would not be invented for more then a hundred years after our voyage.
So to figure out where the ship was, they would take the ship's starting position and knowing how fast it traveled, they would estimate the ship's position. That's right they guessed! Needless to say, this caused many accidents where ships were not where they thought they were and slammed into the coast or rocks. Hence, the "dead" in the dead reckoning. So I know the ship's latitude, which is about as much as they themselves knew, and had to guess how far into the Atlantic they were. For more on dead reckoning click here. For more on the discovery of longitude click here.
For expediency and to keep it interesting I did not put the entire journal on the map. Many of the entries are in the vein of "we are at such and such latitude traveling in this direction" or "we arrived at this place and it had green fields, good for a colony." I stuck to entries that I personally found interesting, so there is some editorial bias here. If you would like to read the full unedited journal you can do so online here.
When a journal entry mentions a place by name that's where I place the marker. They may not have stopped at each place, but it gives you an rough idea of where they were.
It was easy finding the ships location up until it reached South America. Unfortunately, almost all of the place names in South America have changed since the voyage of the Pigeon. To find the locations I took the names from the journal and placed them on the expedition's maps. Then I cross referenced their maps with current maps of the area, so again my efforts are probably not that accurate.