Nathaniel Bowditch was an American mathematician who lived in Salem from 1773 to 1838. It is known that Bowditch was a real person, but were the characters that interacted with him, places he went and events that happened to him in Jean Lee Latham’s book Carry On, Mr. Bowditch also real? Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in Salem, Massachusetts with his brothers, sisters, parents and grandmother. He attended school until the age of 12 years old, when he apprenticed at Ropes and Hodges ship chandlery,which would last nine years, in 1785. This was where he learned about the equipment and supplies needed to outfit sailing ships and heard stories of exotic ports and people (Nugent). The shop is no longer standing, but the waterfront, which originally
