In Philadelphia, Lewis writes to master surveyor Andrew Ellicott to let him know that he has obtained a chronometer for taking celestial observations. He says it has been cleaned and running 14 seconds too slow each day.
Chronometer
John Poole Mermaid Trademark
© 2014 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Lewis purchased his chronometer from Thomas Parker on 19 May 1803. It was the most expensive item purchased in Philadelphia.
Slow Chronometer
Philadelphia May 27th 1803.
Dear Sir,
I have at length been enabled to procure a Chronometer which you will receive by the hands of Mr. [Benjamin Smith] Barton who has been so obliging as to take charge of her . . . .
She has been cleaned by Mr. Voit, and her rate of going asscertained by observation to be 14″ too slow in 24 h.
My sincere respects to Mrs. Ellicott and the family and believe me your friend & Obt. Servt.
Meriwether Lewis[1]Lewis to Ellicott in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 51.
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Notes
| ↑1 | Lewis to Ellicott in Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 51. |
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