Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Doctor Holyoke remarks that seafaring is a lot like medicine. A lot of people would rather trust superstition than science. He tells Nat it will take time for everybody to get used to the idea of sailing by math and science. Nat says that what his book really needs is to be accepted by English sailors. That would convince everyone.

Late in March, a Newbury newspaper reports that Nathaniel Bowditch’s new American Practical Navigator has been sold to two nautical booksellers in London, and 6000 more copies have been ordered.

That summer, Nat is asked to captain a ship to Sumatra and the pepper islands. He would be sailing as captain and part owner of the Putnam. Nat tells Polly that sailing as a shipmaster would give him the final piece of credibility that will allow people to accept his book.

Nat makes a trip to Boston and attends the commencement ceremony at Harvard University. As he is thinking of his disappointment, he hears the president of the college speak his name. He wonders if some relation of his is receiving a degree. He is leaving the audience hall when he hears someone call his name behind him.