Carry On, Mr. Bowditch Book Extension Activities & Snack

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

By Jean Lee Latham

🥄 Snack: Hardtack & Sailor’s Provisions ♡

Directions:

Take one curious boy with a mind for numbers. Add ships, stars, mathematics, languages, and a stubborn determination to keep learning no matter what life puts in his way. Chart a course from the busy docks of Salem to the open sea, checking every calculation along the way. Serve with a reminder from Nat Bowditch: when the wind won’t fill your sails, you may have to find another way to keep moving forward.

Recipe notes: Hardtack was a practical food for long voyages because it was made to last. This extremely dry, simple biscuit could travel far better than fresh bread, making it a fitting taste of the maritime world Nat Bowditch knew.For a more substantial reading snack, serve hardtack alongside a few sailor-inspired provisions such as beef jerky, dried apples, nuts, or cheese.

⚓ Provision the Ship

Make a batch of hardtack, then build a small sailor’s snack board with jerky, dried fruit, nuts, or other foods that could travel well.

Before eating, imagine you are preparing for a voyage that could last for months.

Provision Challenge: Which foods on your board do you think would last the longest without refrigeration? Which would spoil first? What qualities make a food useful for a long sea voyage?

Take a bite of hardtack and compare it with a modern cracker. Why might sailors have valued durability over deliciousness?

💬 Talk About It

Nat’s plans for his education change dramatically, but he keeps finding ways to learn. What do you think allows Nat to keep moving forward when the path he wanted is no longer available to him?
Nat does not simply trust the navigation tables because they are printed in a book. He checks the calculations for himself. Why is being willing to question and verify information an important part of learning?
🌌 Imagine... You’re far from land, surrounded by nothing but ocean, with only the stars, charts, and your calculations to guide you. Would you feel frightened, excited, or both?

becalmed

(bee-KAHMD)

unable to move because there is little or no wind.

⭐ A sailing ship may become becalmed when the wind disappears, but Nat learns that a person does not have to stay stuck simply because life has stopped moving in the expected direction.

Pairs Well With

🔭 Navigate by the Stars

On a clear night, find Polaris, the North Star, then use a compass to check your direction. Imagine trying to navigate when the only landmarks around you are waves.

📓 Think Like Bowditch

Start a simple scientific journal and record observations, measurements, sketches, and questions for several days. It’s a great way to practice the careful recordkeeping scientists use during experiments.

🔎 Find the Error

Hide one mistake in a short set of numbers, measurements, or directions and challenge someone else to find it. Then discuss how one small error could become a very big problem at sea.

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