Welcome to the NavList Message Boards.

NavList:

A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding

Compose Your Message

Message:αβγ
Message:abc
Add Images & Files
    Name or NavList Code:
    Email:
       
    Reply
    Re: The Old vs. The New
    From: Jim Thompson
    Date: 2004 Jan 22, 07:40 -0400
    Here is another potential influence on the rise of tabular methods.  My father was a navigator on Lancasters in WWII.  He grew up in a poor area of Nova Scotia around boats.  Like tens of thousands of boys on both sides of the Atlantic, he went from home to shooting stars over theaters of war in a matter of months.  I have no doubt that he was very happy to learn the fastest, simplest way to reduce sights and get back alive.  No doubt many young men entering naval service from streets and farms must have been "in the same boat" as the aviators.  CN innovators would have had tens of thousands of "tabula rasa" to imprint tabular methods.  Some of those students would have gone on to professional careers in navigation after the war ended.
     
    (Dad died a couple of years ago, so now that I've learned CN, I cannoask him about his navigation techniques and training.  All I have is his old "Leupold Sporstman" compass that he used for hunting birds in British Columbia after the war.  I know that my interest in the sea and navigation comes straight from his shy, justifiably proud stories about guiding his Buffalo Squadron Lanc over Europe in the dark.  In fact navigation feats were the only war stories he ever told. He had a talent for math, and used to talk with pride about the navigation skills that he never used again professionally after the war ended.  )

    Jim Thompson
    jim2@jimthompson.net
    www.jimthompson.net
    Outgoing mail scanned by Norton Antivirus
    -----------------------------------------

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of Frank Reed
    (snipped) 
    also an example of the old axiom 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Before they would even consider learning a new method, practical navigators had to see solid evidence that a new method worked with absolute reliability and provided some clear and obvious advantage. They had lives and money on the line (not necessarily in that order!) when they raised their sextants and took their sights. Given that celestial navigation today (in 2004) is no longer a primary means of navigating a vessel, it's much easier for modern navigation enthusiasts to experiment with different reduction techniques, historical methods, and exotica like lunars.
     (snipped) 
       
    Reply
    Browse Files

    Drop Files

    NavList

    What is NavList?

    Get a NavList ID Code

    Name:
    (please, no nicknames or handles)
    Email:
    Do you want to receive all group messages by email?
    Yes No

    A NavList ID Code guarantees your identity in NavList posts and allows faster posting of messages.

    Retrieve a NavList ID Code

    Enter the email address associated with your NavList messages. Your NavList code will be emailed to you immediately.
    Email:

    Email Settings

    NavList ID Code:

    Custom Index

    Subject:
    Author:
    Start date: (yyyymm dd)
    End date: (yyyymm dd)

    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site