NavList:

Very well put Jeremy and perhaps some more people sitting at their desks will realise that navigation is about much much more than the Maths – a point I raised myself in an earlier post. (Perhaps my gaff about the bad horizon under that star to the Northeast just went over the heads of those who only look out their South facing windows!).

In another post you stated   “On the other hand, sailors made landfall by these graphical methods for years without problems, so perhaps I am being a bit pernickety.” I believe you might be – we did just fine without calculators or GPS confirmation or our position. And (although again shot down by the purists), I still believe that a mile or three made no difference whatsoever. Celestial navigation was for ocean passages. After three weeks crossing the Pacific from Panama to Japan, you would be a very imprudent mariner if you navigated in close to coastal dangers without first having established your vessel position by means other than by stars or Sun.....a position that may be many hours old, leaving the vessel subject to varying effects of winds and tides in the interim period.

Kinch.