Navigator

“ The grand objects of a navigator are the accurate knowledge of where he exactly is, in any part of his course, and how he ought to steer, in order to reach his destination in the shortest time. The means of ascertaining his latitude and longitude, of calculating how far he has sailed, and at what rate he is sailing, and the direction of his course with reference to the port to which he is desirous to proceed, are what he principally requires. ”

“ He then compares that position with his voyage plan, his operational commitments, and his predetermined “dead reckoning” position. A good navigator anticipates dangerous situations well before they arise, and always stays “ahead of the vessel.” He is ready for navigational emergencies at any time. He is increasingly a manager of a variety of resources--electronic, mechanical, and human. Navigation methods and techniques vary with the type of vessel, the conditions, and the navigator’s experience. ”

“ The navigator of a paperless ship, whose primary method of navigation is ECDIS, must assemble enough backup paper charts, equipment, and knowledge to complete his voyage in the event of a major computer system failure. A navigator who keeps a couple of dozen paper charts and a spare handheld GPS receiver under his bunk will be a hero in such an event. If he has a sextant and celestial calculator or tables and the knowledge to use them, so much the better. ”

“ The navigator uses the methods and techniques best suited to the vessel, its equipment, and conditions at hand.
Some important elements of successful navigation cannot be acquired from any book or instructor. The science of navigation can be taught, but the art of navigation must be developed from experience.
101. Types of Navigation Methods of navigation have changed throughout history. New methods often enhance the mariner’s ability to complete his voyage safely and expeditiously, and make his job easier. ”

“ Noon at the ship is the pivotal point of the day's work at sea. It is then that the navigator must report to the commanding officer the latitude and longitude by dead reckoning, the latitude and longitude by observation, the course and distance made good, the deviation of the compass and the course and distance to destination. ”

“ The methods of navigation employed by mariners are the result of centuries of research and [Pg 94] invention, but have not yet reached finality—witness the introduction within the last few years of the Gyroscopic Compass and the Directional Wireless Telegraph Apparatus, as well as of improved methods of calculation.
In short journeys over land by aëroplane or airship the duties of a navigator are light, so long as he can see the ground and check his progress towards the objective by observation and a suitable map. ”

“ Though the navigator, thanks to his compass, sextant, and Nautical Almanac, may determine with a high degree of precision his exact location, yet even the best observations do not enable him to approach a coast without safeguarding his ship by the use of another42 piece of mechanism calculated to test the depth of the waters in which he finds himself at any given moment. ”

“ In practical navigation a vessel commences her voyage and [Pg 2] attempts to sail in a certain direction, but the well-known elements of compass error, variation and deviation, current, wind, seas and poor steering all divert the vessel from the projected course. In dead reckoning a navigator strives to keep track of his position by keeping a record of actual courses steered and distances run. ”

“ In planning out in advance a long ocean voyage the experienced navigator would first, by laying down the track from port to port on a great circle chart, ascertain the shortest route between them, remembering that the greatest saving in distance over other routes is when the ports are far apart in longitude and both in high latitudes of the same name. ”

“ The navigator goes out on the broad ocean in search of unknown tracts of land, and though he may return, after long and fruitless wanderings, yet in the voyages he has made he has acquired experience, and may, perchance, have learned some fact or thing which will prove the means of saving him in the hour of danger. ”

“ The qualifications of a skilful pilot or master, even for the Mediterranean seas, in those days, required more study and more practical information, than are necessary to render a mariner a complete general navigator, in the present improved state of the science of navigation ”

“ Definitions A nautical chart represents part of the spherical earth on a plane surface. It shows water depth, the shoreline of adjacent land, prominent topographic features, aids to navigation, and other navigational information. It is a work area on which the navigator plots courses, ascertains positions, and views the relationship of the ship to the surrounding area. It assists the navigator in avoiding dangers and arriving safely at his destination. ”

“ Then come the flags which give the reckoning of the navigator on each ship as to latitude and longitude, either by observation or dead reckoning, and you comment upon the variations in the reports.
So the routine goes on and you get used to it and in some respects become part of it. You even fall into a certain station at certain times. The Sun man, for example, has one place where he is expected to report when the call is made. No other duties are assigned to him as a passenger. He has a certain station when the abandon ship drill takes place. ”

“ It is best used during daylight hours and for short distances. (2) Navigator-observer methods. This is the most accurate means of river navigation and can be used effectively in all light conditions. Equipment needed to do this is a compass, photo map (first choice) , topography map (second choice) , poncho (for night use) , and pencil and flashlight (for night use) . (a) The navigator is positioned in the front of the boat and does not paddle. The navigator keeps his map and compass oriented at all times. To check the map during darkness, he uses his flashlight under a poncho. ”

“ The ocean was all right, and so was the patent log; as for speed, one saw it with his own eyes. Therefore the thing that was not all right was the figuring that refused to boost the Snark along over the chart. Not that this happened every day, but that it did happen. And it was perfectly proper and no more than was to be expected from a first attempt at applying a theory.
The acquisition of the knowledge of navigation has a strange effect on the minds of men. The average navigator speaks of navigation with deep respect. ”

“ He should know how to solve sights using tables or a navigational calculator. For the navigator prepared with such knowledge the situation is never hopeless. Some method of navigation is always available to one who understands certain basic principles. ”

“ It is obvious that however well informed the navigator may be as to his precise latitude and longitude, he can feel no safety unless he is equally well informed as to the depth of the water, the proximity of land, the presence or absence of shallows in the region, and the like. ”

“ Introduction Navigation is an increasingly exact science. Electronic positioning systems give the navigator a greater certainty than ever that his position is correct within a few meters. However, the navigator makes certain assumptions which would be unacceptable in purely scientific work. ”

“ By means of observations upon this planet, the seaman can sail over distant waters for many months, and be able to return, when he may wish, to his own home in safety. Hence the importance of the astronomer to the simple navigator of our planet. ”

“ The character of the skill and knowledge required of a pilot in charge of a vessel on the rivers of the country is very different from that which enables a navigator to carry his vessel safely on the ocean. In this latter case a knowledge of the rules of navigation, with charts which disclose the places of hidden rocks, dangerous shores, or other dangers of the way, are the main elements of his knowledge and skill, guided as he is in his course by the compass, by the reckoning, and the observations of the heavenly bodies, obtained by the use of proper instruments. ”

“ It is impossible to appreciate the intrepid seamanship of the early navigators without first taking a view of the art of navigation as it was in their time, and understanding the shapes, bulk, and rigs of the vessels in which they cruised in search of plunder or started on long voyages of discovery. In these days one is so used to the facilities of science for traversing the deep with swiftness and certainty, that it is necessary to bend the mind with some severity of thought to compass the difficulties of the old sailors and honour their triumphs justly. ”

“ A person who navigates or is directly responsible for the navigation of a craft. 2. A book of instructions on navigation, such as the The American Practical Navigator (Bowditch) .
NAVSTAR Global Positioning System. A satellite navigation system developed by the Department of Defense. The system is provides highly accurate position and velocity information in three dimensions and precise time and time interval on a global basis continuously, to an unlimited number of users. It is unaffected by weather and provides a worldwide common grid reference system. ”

“ For every Seaman of industry and ingenuity, is not only a Navigator, but a Merchant, and also a Soldier; ”

“ No landmarks were discernible, or any visible thing to guide the navigator in this 'blind' part of the channel; yet, notwithstanding this, there was no lead, no sounding pole, or any means whatever used to ascertain the depth of the water, or to warn the navigator of his approach onto the 'flats' which lined that portion of the river. ”

“ Should the navigator allow for a beam wind of 30 miles an hour when the opposite exists he will be 60 miles out of his reckoning at the end of one hour, and soon altogether out of the weather system he is expecting on the direct route.
“The only method of checking positions and finding the course and speed made good over the sea is by astronomical observations and obtaining the positions by wireless from ships en route. ”

“ To the layman navigation is a deed and awful mystery, which feeling has been generated in him by the deep and awful respect for navigation that the layman has seen displayed by navigators. I have known frank, ingenuous, and modest young men, open as the day, to learn navigation and at once betray secretiveness, reserve, and self-importance as if they had achieved some tremendous intellectual attainment. ”

“ V. Perhaps it might be the first voyage of a young navigator to the given port, when his own personal experience of the winds to be expected, the currents to be encountered by the way, would itself be blank. If so, there would be the wind and current chart. It would spread out before him the tracks of a thousand vessels that had preceded him on the same voyage, wherever it might be, and that, too, at the same season of the year. ”

“ Navigation by means of integrating the Doppler frequency shift that occurs over a specific interval of time as the distance between a navigational satellite and navigator is changing to determine the time rate of change of range of the satellite from the navigator for the same interval. See also DOPPLER SATELLITE NAVIGATION BASIC PRINCIPLES, NAVY NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM.
integrated navigation system. . A navigation system which comprises two or more positioning systems combined in such manner as to achieve performance better than each constituent system. ”

“ I've heard of navigators, you must know, whose reckoning by account has landed them by four degrees of longitude inland—same thing may happen with some folks' sextants. My course is your course, and you'll please to stick to it."
"There's not even yet southing enough," said Mr. Wilson.
"Yes, there is," cried Captain Punch. "you don't want to teach me navigation, do 'ee?"
Captain Parfitt rushed into the cabin and returned with a chart, which he laid open on the deck at Captain Punch's feet. ”

“ The purposes of the marine of a country whose interests are so inseparably connected as ours are with the improvement of the art of navigation, would be very inadequately fulfilled, if our navigators were merely supplied with the means of determining by Nautical Astronomy the position of a ship at sea. ”

“ To assist the navigator in the choice of suitable objects between which to measure the angles, a very useful pamphlet is issued by the Admiralty, from the diagrams in which it can be seen at a glance which combination of objects in sight gives the most favourable result, always remembering as a broad principle that nearer objects are more suitable than distant ones, and that the accuracy of position determined depends on the relative distances of the objects as well as on the magnitude of the angles between them. ”

“ The experienced navigator knows where to throw out his grapnel, and this, digging into the soil or catching in the rocks, or laying hold of any object from a tree to a tombstone, will bring the big airship to anchor, and enable the crew, with a little management, to disembark. ”

“ There is one grizzled navigator, said to be unable to read or write, who knows every marking on the coast for six hundred miles, and in the long years of service has never made a mistake or met with an accident. ”

“ In the absence of other information as to currents, that afforded by these mute little navigators is of great value. They leave no tracks behind them, it is true, and their routes can not be ascertained. ”

“ THERE is a movement of the waters of the ocean which, though it be a translation, yet does not amount to what is known to the mariner as current, for our nautical instruments and the art of navigation have not been brought to that state of perfection which will enable navigators generally to detect as currents the flow to which I allude as drift. ”