The Nautical Encyclopedia

Patterson’s Illustrated Nautical Encyclopedia — Howard Patterson, 1891

⚓ The Superstition Locker ⚓

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Home ⚓ Letter A ⚓ Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis

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The Northern lights.

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2026 Editor's Note: The northern lights kept their mystery until this century's space physics traced them to the solar wind. Sailors' sightings like those behind this entry are now crowd-sourced data — see aurora. (Ed: BR 2026-06-25)

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The Nautical Encyclopedia (1891) is in the public domain; this digital edition © 2026 PhotoOpAI.