The Master Navigator

Originally Aired: December 22, 1937 Cavalcade of America #114, "The Master Navigator," tells the story of Nathaniel Bauditch, the brilliant mathematician who revolutionized American navigation. The episode opens with young Nat as an eight-year-old prodigy, unjustly beaten by his teacher for correctly solving an eighth-grade arithmetic problem. His mother comforts him with wisdom that shapes his life: deeds speak louder than words. By age twenty-one, working as a clerk in a Salem shop, Nat overhears a crucial conversation between ship owner Elias Derby and Captain Henry Prince. They lament that American ships cannot compete with British vessels because Yankee captains lack navigational skills and cannot afford expensive chronometers. Nat boldly interrupts, claiming he can navigate a ship around the world using lunar observations. When the skeptical men challenge him, he makes a stunning assertion: the standard British navigation guide, Moore's book, contains over five thousand errors. Despite Derby's doubts about trusting his valuable ships to a mathematical landlubber, Captain Prince expresses interest in testing Nat's theories, and Derby reluctantly agrees to let the young man prove himself at sea.