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"I will even offer up that exemplar of navigation, Frank Worsley, who 
navigated by time sights, on that famous sail from Elephant Island to South 
Georgia island in the 1900's.  His account is offered in his book and in his 
navigation log book which lives in a museum.  Was that appropriate 50 years 
after Sumner provided his method?  Some would argue that it wouldn't meet the 
navigation standard of the day, yet it is hard to argue with success."

I would say that it's a common misconception that Sumner lines, or other 
celestial lines of position, came into use very soon after they were 
popularized in articles and books in the nineteenth century. But the evidence 
says otherwise. Worsley was not working below the navigational standard of 
the day. That WAS the navigational standard of the day. Indeed, even in the 
Second World War, a great many merchant vessels were navigated by that 
standard method of Noon Sun for latitude and time sights for longitude. They 
didn't plot celestial LOPs. Why this took so long is an interesting question. 
The short answer is presumably the obvious one: the "new navigation" offered 
no practical advantages.


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