Readers today are still fascinated by Nat, an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailors worldSalem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didnt promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by log, lead, and lookout. Nats long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the Sailors Bible), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero.