Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

infobox Book |
name = Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Jean Lee Latham
illustrator =
cover_artist = John O'Hara Cosgrave II
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Children's novel, Biographical novel
publisher = Houghton Mifflin
release_date = 9 September 1955
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-395-06881-9 / 0-395-13713-6(pbk)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" is a novel by Jean Lee Latham that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1956.

The book is a children's biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, a sailor and mathematician who published the mammoth and comprehensive reference work for seamen: The American Practical Navigator. It is an epic tale of adventure and learning.

Plot summary

The novel introduces readers to young Nat Bowditch, a boy who loves school, and especially mathematics. He dreams of someday attending Cambridge, Massachusetts's Harvard University, but is forced by economic circumstances to quit school and begin working. Eventually, he ends up as an indentured servant to a ship's chandler. Still determined to continue his education, he begins to study (and master) advanced mathematics in the evenings after work.

When his indenture is complete, he gets the chance to go to sea. There, he discovers that many of the navigational sources used at the time contain extensive and dangerous errors. He is prompted to compile a new book of navigational information. This book, "The American Practical Navigator", is still in use today. Under several captains, Nat learns how things work at sea. He invents new ways of calculating latitude and longitude, increasing the accuracy of calculations used to find ships' locations. Eventually Nat becomes a captain himself. At the book's end, Nat receives an honorary degree from the school he always wanted to attend, Harvard.

Further reading

Intended for young readers, "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" includes many dramatized and fictional components, including a chapter implying that Bowditch invented the lunar distance method of navigation when, in fact, his contribution was a relatively minor technical improvement in mathematical calculations. The definitive modern biography, for readers over the age of 15, is R.E. Berry's "Yankee Stargazer".