Dennis A.J. Morey and Theodore W. Throckmorton
Whereas numerous tomes of comprehensive studies of navigation and related subjects are readily available for the professional navigator, there is dearth of publications suitable for the amateur navigator in a “how-to” form. Furthermore, the appearance of relatively inexpensive electronic devices, such as the GPS, has lured would-be navigators away from the traditional methods of navigation, in spite of the warnings offered by the companies producing these devices. Thus they overlook the “sine qua non” of good navigation, the determination of the current velocity, that is the set and drift. Once determined this component of the navigational triangle makes precise navigation a snap, whereas without it there is only uncertainty.
Most students are turned off by the need to acquire a practical application of basic formulae employing basic trigonometry and later spherical trigonometry, methods which have evolved over the centuries from the beginning of the Age of Exploration in the early 1400’s to modern days. In this text we develop the knowledge and application of these mathematical processes in such a way as to reassure the student that these techniques are not beyond his capabilities.
About the Author:
Dennis A.J. Morey was born in Eltham, London, England in 1920, and attended private boys school there. He matriculated at the University of London in early 1939, and enlisted in the Royal Air Force in Sept. 1939. After basic training at Hastings, he was sent to the R.A.F. Navigation school in Prestwick, Scotland. Following this he attended air gunnery school and bombardier school. A short course at the Flying Boat school in Stranraer, Scotland, and then transferred to a Beaufort Torpedo-Bomber Squadron in East Anglia, where he carried out 37 missions from the Arctic Ocean to the South of France. He was then commissioned and sent to Canada for a Specialist Navigation course. On completion he was issued a First Class Navigators Certificate, and elected to the Royal Meteorological Society. He spent 2 years teaching there, and then returned to England, taking courses at the Bomber Command Conversion School, Pathfinder School and further training in airborne radar navigation and bombing. He was then sent to a Lancaster Heavy Bomber Squadron and qualified as a Pathfinder with promotion to Squadron Leader. He completed 27 missions over Germany marking the targets for the thousand bomber raids, and was awarded two Distinguished Flying crosses, He was then sent to Gander, Newfoundland, as Senior Navigation Officer and Executive Officer. Discharged in Jan. 1946 he attended medical school at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and graduated in 1950, having been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Hippocratic Honor Society. He then took three years of training in the specialty of Internal Medicine, and a fourth year in the specialty of Gastroenterology. Following board certification in these two specialties he was elected to the Fellowship in the American College of Physicians, and appointed as Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Medical college of Virginia.
In the mid 1960’s he joined the Richmond Power Squadron, a unit of the United States Power Squadron, taking all their courses and receiving the rating of Senior Navigator. He taught advanced navigation and meteorology for several years, and designed a number of navigational contests. During this time he wrote a text entitled “The Magnetic Compass, and its correction and Maintenance”.
Currently he is on his second career as an historian. He is a board member of the Henricus Foundation, and chairman of the historical research committee. He has completed 13 monographs on early American history, which have been published by the Henricus Foundation, and are on sale in their gift shop. At this time he is preparing a paper entitled “Who introduced Democracy to the New World’, which he is to present to the meeting of the Descendants of the Ancient Planters, in Williamsburg in late October.
A copy of the “About the Author” in the above monographs is below
About The Author
Dennis A. J. Morey, M.D. was born in London, England in 1920 and came to maturity just as the Third Reich was beginning an all-out assault upon his homeland. He matriculated to the University of London in 1939 and then enlisted in the Royal Air Force. Trained as a navigator, bomb-aimer and gunner, he was attached to #22 torpedo bomber squadron, Coastal Command, where he flew 37 missions.
After posting to Canada to teach a Specialist Navigation course, he returned to England in 1944 and was posted to #7 Lancaster Pathfinder Squadron, Bomber Command, where he flew 27 missions over occupied Europe and Germany. His wartime service against the Third Reich earned him two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the rank of Squadron Leader.
After World War II, Morey attended medical school at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He graduated with his medical degree in 1950, and then served in a variety of posts in Florida, Texas and Richmond, Virginia, specializing in gastroenterology and internal medicine. From 1956 through 1989, he practiced medicine in Richmond and served as chief of staff for Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in 1984. Dr. Morey was also elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha and Hippocratic Honor Medical societies.
In addition to his practice and administrative duties, Dr. Morey has been a member of the Richmond Academy of Medicine’s Ethics Committee, and is chairman of the Ethics Committee for Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. Dr. Morey also served as assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.
He shares his wartime education by teaching meteorology, navigation and compass correction for the Richmond Power Squadron, and mathematics and electronics for the Richmond Amateur Radio Club. A former college letterman in fencing, he has served as a fencing coach for Virginia Commonwealth University, and was a founding member of the Richmond Rugby Football Club.
As a member of the Henricus Foundation Board of Trustees, and as chairman of Historical Research, Dr. Morey has been extremely active as a speaker for the foundation. His meticulous research earned him the prestigious History Award Medal in 1996 from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Dr. Morey has generously donated the proceeds of his copyrighted publications to the Henricus Foundation.
Theodore W. Throckmorton
RESUME
(1) BS degree from Richmond Professional Institute, extension of William & Mary College.
Attended William & Mary College in Williamsburg one year.
(2) Taught night school two years in Mathematics of Accounting.
(3) Served in U.S Navy Reserve in World War II.
(4) Opened Virginia Yacht Sales, Inc. in 1950 and served as President until 1995.
(5) Member of Richmond Sail & Power Squadron for fifty years and also served as Commander.
Rating: Senior Navigator.
(6) Member of Coast Guard Auxiliary.
(7) In 1957 became Instrument and Multi Engine rated as a pilot using this to cover the East Coast of U.S. to Florida.
(8) Received a Captains license to operate in the Atlantic area.
