View remotely in the 1700s? The strange case of a Frenchman’s predictions

Little is known about this obscure Frenchman who claimed to have discovered Nauscopy – a method for detecting ships and land masses on extraordinary distances (up to 1,000 kilometers) by observing their atmospheric effects. This early form of external viewing was supported by hundreds of witnesses, including high -ranking naval officers, governor, whose testimonies suggested that there could be truth in his claims. In a letter he said that he already theoretized in 1762, while he served with the French navy, that an approaching ship would disrupt the atmosphere in a detectable way, so that a trained observer could perceive his presence for a long time before it became …