Nathaniel Bowditch

Nathaniel Bowditch was a smart man who lived a long time ago. He lived in a time when people traveled long distances on ships, but it was hard to know exactly where they were going. Nathaniel liked math and science, and he worked really hard to figure out how to help sailors know where they were going.

He wrote a very important book called "The New American Practical Navigator." This book had lots of information about how to use math and science to figure out where a ship was going. It had charts and diagrams and lots of words that explained exactly what to do.

Thanks to Nathaniel's book, sailors could use the stars to figure out where they were going even when they couldn’t see the land. This was very important because it helped sailors stay safe while they were out in the middle of the ocean.

Nathaniel Bowditch was a very smart and helpful person who made traveling by ship much safer and easier for everyone.