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Eccentricity of the Sextant by Frederic Furbish, 1893

Eccentricity of the Sextant by Frederic Furbish, 1893, Page 20

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13 solely on compass and log. To sail out into that watery waste was the rankest kind of foolishness. About this time a new star of the first magnitude appeared on the horizon of fame; a man, whose name, in centuries to come, was to be revered by on of the grandest nations the world has ever seen. But at that time he was regarded as he would be today if he advanced ideas so contrary to the popular belief - as a crank. He had the wildest ideas about the shape of the earth and actually believed that India could be reached by sailing Westward - why everybody knew it lay to the East! As was quite, as would be the case today under similar circumstances he was hooted down. But he was persistent and determined to prove the truth of his assertions.
 
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