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On Friday, April 30, 2004 8:33 AM
George  asked:
> Here's a request for advice from listmembers about a suitable book.
>
> An intelligent geographer finds himself in the position of editing for
> publication a number of logs of sailing-vessel voyages of the early 19th
> century (pre-Sumner).
>
> He lacks the background of small-boat navigation that so many of us on
this
> list enjoy, and admits to knowing little about navigation generally. Yet
> for this editing, he finds that he needs to learn something about the
> basics of navigation, coastal, DR, and celestial.
>
> He and I are arranging some sort of short crash-course between us, in the
> Summer. But before then, I would like to recommend to him a book, or two,
> (or website perhaps) to help him to prepare to understand the background.
> Damned if I can think of what the best text might be for that job. Any
> suggestions?

I have always recommended George Mixter's _Primer of Navigation_ as a good
starting point for learning and understanding coastal and celestial
navigation.
It's back in print, with added chapters on current electronics, but the
foundation is still piloting, dead reckoning, and celestial (with solutions
by
HO 211/Ageton in the older editions, adding HO 229 & 249 examples in later
eds).
Older editions are omnipresent on eBay and would serve him just as well as
the
current one. Indeed, the 1940's editions have at least some discussion of
the
"old" navigation (meridian and time sights). However, your friend's focus
would
be on the nature of pilotage, DR, and especially the mind-set of using
sights,
bearings, soundings, etc., to regularly refine a necessarily inexact notion
of
where one is.

More specifically, Mixter, Dutton, Bowditch, and others all contain a
chapter
that walks the reader through a day's work, usually pilotage out of a
harbor,
taking departure, then on to AM/PM stars and sun lines. If your friend could
study one or more of these navigational days, he would get closer to the
navigator's mind-set.

 -- Peter

   

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