Lot n° 329
Estimation :
300 - 400
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 384EUR
Ernest MOUCHEZ (1821-1892) astronomer, hydrographer... - Lot 329 - Ader
Ernest MOUCHEZ (1821-1892) astronomer, hydrographer and admiral. L.A. (minute), [1851], to an admiral; 3 pages small in-fol.
On his hydrographic works. [From 1850 to 1854, Ernest Mouchez made a voyage around the world on board the corvette the Capricieuse commanded by Gaston de Rocquemaurel. During the expedition, he was in charge of the chronometer log, the movement of the watches and the ship's progress. He was then able to confirm his talents as a hydrographer by operating in the Philippines, in the Sunda Islands, in the China Sea and on the coasts of Japan and Korea].
"Almost all our hydrographic results were written during the campaign and sent to Paris, but the little time I was able to devote to this work and the demands of the service and of life on board only allowed me to draw a provisional map, in which I have already noticed some errors. All these maps were constructed graphically without preparatory calculations, the longitudes deduced from the chronometers are such as were given by a first calculation, without my having been able to take into account corrections coming either from the discussion of the results provided by our 5 watches, or from the temperature coefficient of each of the watches"... He has "the journal of our astronomical observations made on land for the determination of absolute longitudes by lunar culminations and eclipses; the nature of our campaign and the brevity of the breaks prevented me from making an experiment as complete as I would have liked of the small meridian telescope that I had built at my expense by Brunner before my departure". The observations "which were made in Macao will be especially interesting because they were confirmed by the observation of the eclipse of the Sun of December 11, 1852 which we had the good luck to observe under excellent circumstances at the mouth of the Tigris. According to these results the longitude of the eastern coast of Asia would be only 12 to 13 seconds too low"... Believing that his calculations need to be revised, he asks, with the support of Rocquemaurel, to be assigned to the Depot of maps and plans to complete his work. He specifies that until now, he has been granted a simple 10-day leave despite his four years of absence...
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