Part of the Breathing Underwater CD, This song is about Nathaniel Bowditch, the Father of Modern Navigation. Growing up, I loved a book my Aunt Bessie gave me called, “Carry On Mr. Bowditch” which was a fascinating account of this amazing self taught scholar and math genius who eventually became a sea captain and literally rewrote the book on navigation. His fierce motivation was to make sure the charts and mathematical formulas necessary to navigate were correct and easy to understand so that even ordinary seamen; (if they could read) would be able to make it safely to where they were going as well as back home.
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Sail Away
(The Ballad of Nathaniel Bowditch)
Song #299 | 8/4/98 | CD: Breathing Underwater
Nathaniel Bowditch was a self-taught man
He dreamed of someday leaving land
On a ship under his command
Well it took him some time but he did it!
Refrain:
Sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
First he sailed as a clerk
Keeping track of th cargo was his work
Well the captain got his money’s worth
Because Nat could do math in his head!
He taught the men before the mast
How to read and to do math
By teaching them he changed their fate
And eventually he was made first mate!
Refrain:
When he taught himself how to navigate
He began to find mistakes
In the tables and charts and in the books
So he decided to take a second look
What he found filled him with terror
Thousands and thousands of simple errors
Each one could cause a sip to sink
And brave hearted men to die
Refrain:
So he wrote a book of his own
To bring sailors safely home
He worked hard and into the nights
Until he was sure that it was right
Every few years it was updated
Double checked and then corrected
His book is still used today
By seafarers to find their way
Refrain:
Harvard gave him an honorary degree
Which you ask me he didn’t much need
Cause he’d attended the University
Of the open Sea!
Captain Bowditch was a self-taught man
He dreamed of someday leaving land
On a ship under his command
Weill it took some time, but he did it!
Refrain:
Copyright 1998-2015 by Mark Shepard. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Photo 1 – Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo
Photo 2 – Wikipedia