Experimental Evidence

The following sections contain experimental evidence in favor of a Flat Earth.

Sinking Ship Effect

It is proven that the ship does not sink behind a hill of water, but that it is actually perspective which hides it. This demonstrates that the earth is not a globe. There have been experiments where half-sunken ships have been restored by simply looking at them through telescopes, showing that they are not actually hiding behind "hills of water".

Main article: Sinking Ship Effect

The English Mechanic

From The English Mechanic, a scientific journal:

    "The Flat Earth: another Bedford Canal experiment" (Bernard H.Watson, et al),
    ENGLISH MECHANIC, 80:160, 1904
    
    Bedford Canal, England. A repeat of the 1870 experiment
    
    "A train of empty turf-boats had just entered the Canal from the river Ouse, and
    was about proceeding to Ramsey. I arranged with the captain to place the shallowest
    boat last in the train, and to take me on to Welney Bridge, a distance of six
    miles. A good telescope was then fixed on the lowest part of the stern of the last
    boat. The sluice gate of the Old Bedford Bridge was 5ft. 8in. high, the turf-boat
    moored there was 2ft. 6in. high, and the notice board was 6ft. 6in. from the water.
    
    The sun was shining strongly upon them in the direction of the south-southwest; the
    air was exceedingly still and clear, and the surface of the water smooth as a
    molten mirror, so that everything was favourable for observation. At 1.15 p.m. the
    train started for Welney. As the boats gradually receded, the sluice gate, the
    turf-boat and the notice board continued to be visible to the naked eye for about
    four miles. When the sluice gate and the turf-boat (being of a dark colour) became
    somewhat indistinct, the notice board (which was white) was still plainly visible,
    and remained so to the end of six miles. But on looking through the telescope all
    the objects were distinctly visible throughout the whole distance. On reaching
    Welney Bridge I made very careful and repeated observations, and finding several
    men upon the banks of the canal, I called them to look through the telescope. They
    all saw distinctly the white notice board, the sluice gate, and the black turf-boat
    moored near them.
    
    Now, as the telescope was 18in. above the water, The line of sight would touch the
    horizon at one mile and a half away (if the surface were convex). The curvature of
    the remaining four miles and a half would be 13ft. 6in. Hence the turf-boat should
    have been 11ft., the top of the sluice gate 7ft. 10in., and the bottom of the
    notice board 7ft. below the horizon.
    
    My recent experiment affords undeniable proof of the Earth's unglobularity, because
    it rests not on transitory vision; but my proof remains printed on the negative of
    the photograph which Mr.Clifton took for me, and in my presence, on behalf of
    J.H.Dallmeyer, Ltd.
    
    A photograph can not 'imagine' nor lie!"

Further Evidence

Professor Mark Fonstad of Southwest Texas University mathematically demonstrates the earth's flatness here: http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html

There are further experiments which demonstrate a Flat Earth in the book Zetetic Cosmogony by Thomas Winship: http://books.google.com/books?id=GzkKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA#PPP9

Daniel Shenton has demonstrated it here on the Old Bedford Canal: http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=34316.msg841118#msg841118

See Samuel Birley Rowbotham's work on the Bedford Canal and other British locations in his work Earth Not a Globe which demonstrates a Flat Earth: http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/za/za00.htm

A woman named Lady Blount was among the first to peer review Rowbotham's work: Lady Blount Trials

In "A Hundred Proofs the Earth is Not a Globe" by William Carpenter there are a number of referenced experiments which demonstrates the earth's non-globularity: http://flatearthlogic.webs.com/hundredproofs.htm

There are referenced experiments in the book "Terra Firma 1901" by David Wardlaw Scott which favor a Flat Earth: http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031764594