80. Dubay takes an article about Mirages and tries to use it as proof of a flat Earth

“In Chambers’ Journal, February 1895, a sailor near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean reported having seen a vessel which turned out to be an incredible 200 miles away! The incident caused much heated debate in nautical circles at the time, gaining further confirmation in Aden, Yemen where another witness reported seeing a missing Bombay steamer from 200 miles away. He correctly stated the precise appearance, location and direction of the steamer all later corroborated and confirmed correct by those onboard. Such sightings are absolutely inexplicable if the Earth were actually a ball 25,000 miles around, as ships 200 miles distant would have to fall approximately 5 miles below line of sight!”

It is ironic that the article that Dubay quotes from is actually about Mirages, explaining how objects can be seen far beyond the horizon.

From the following link you can download the journal in various formats.
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.350426

Below are most of the relevant passages from the article.  Unfortunately it is missing the first part because of problems I had downloading it, but the meaning of the article is clear.  I'll try and get the complete first sentence at a later date.

" ... reach the eye they make distant objects seem in a higher position than they actually are. In this way, bodies that are really below the horizon may seem elevated above it, and though at a great distance, may thus become visible.

This sort of thing is usually seen across water, and among nautical men it is known as looming.  Not unfrequently, objects that loom seem unusually near, and are magnified vertically, so as to appear like spires or columns.  Snowdon is now and then seen by pilots in Dublin Bay, although the distance between them is over a hundred miles as the crow flies. The Isle of Wight has several times been visible from Brighton ; and the cliffs near Calais have been seen from Ramsgate, the distance in both cases being about sixty miles.

But it is in tropical seas that the most remarkable instances have occurred. A good many years ago, a pilot in Mauritius reported that he had seen a vessel which turned out to be two hundred miles off. The incident caused a good deal of discussion in nautical circles ; and, strange to say, a seemingly well-authenticated case of the same kind occurred afterwards at Aden. A pilot there announced that he had seen from the heights the Bombay steamer then nearly due. He stated precisely the direction in which he saw her, and added that her head was not then turned towards the port. This caused some alarm, and a steamer lying in the harbour was sent out to tow in the vessel supposed to be disabled. It cruised I about in the direction indicated for a whole day without success; but two days afterwards,the missing steamer entered the port ; and it was found, on inquiries, that at the time mentioned by the pilot she was exactly in the direction and position indicated by him, but about two hundred miles off. To prove that there is no hallucination in statements like these, evidence would be required as conclusive as that I needed to establish the reality of the great sea-serpent!" 

So it is clear that the author's and other contemporary opinion at the time was that if the accounts were to be believed these sightings were best explained by superior mirages, a well known an accepted explanation for ships being visible well beyond the horizon.

I suggest you assign as much credibility to the flat Earth explanation as the article's author did at the time.  None whatsoever.


< Prev  71-80 Next >