NavList:

   

Reply

Quoting Alexandre Eremenko

> > Voyagers like the Polynesians,
> > for example, who roamed the Pacific seas with
> > "no sextant, no watch, no
> > almanac, nothing",
>
> I suppose they also did not have compass ...

Actually they did. They knew the sky well, and observed the rising and setting 
of known stars (for example).
These azimuths (not that they knew them as such) effectively formed a compass.

They had lots of other tools, claiming 'no nothing' is incorrect. There is a 
lot of material on this available. In the
last few decades (eg, '70s) a number of Westerners have made voyages with 
traditional Polynesian navigators,
and have recorded their experiences. Just as well, the last of these 
navigators tended to live on remote islands
of the Pacific, their skills no longer valued or passed on, so have disappeared with them.

   

Reply