The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-07-10
STEERING BY A STAR.
sailors Can Keep the Course Better
This Way Than by n Compass.


That sailors prefer not to steer by
compass must have struck you as one
curious fact. Here is another:
steersman can keep his ship better on
her cotirse at night, If it be clear, than
during the day. Look ahead, get a star
md steady her head by it, So says the
A. b. of the ocean to the sailor who has
not yet won his degree. For to the
helmsman the stars are like the pillar
of fire in Scripture They are the hands
ON the dial of the night. They twinkle
good evening" to poor Jack as he sits
np aloft or stands at the helm, and wink
good morning" and "good-byh TO him
with daylight. 1t is obvious that the
ito" or off, movement of n vessel can
be more quickly detected by small
bright object like a star dead ahead
than by the tnonotonous sweep OF the
horizon, or by peerihg into the com.
pass box. The same ancient mariner
Who told me about measuring The
length of the off and in shore legs BY
the life OF candles told me that once
when the oil in the pinnacle lamps gave
out and he was steering by a star, he
occasionally struck a match aid looked
at the compass "to see IL the star had
moved any," He was a genuine sea
cook" this ancient mariner, being stew
nrd of the vessel on which / was sail
ing; and he would bob up out of the
cooks galley amidships like seal bob.
bing up through hole in the ice, and
proceed to spin yarns.
When the lookout sings out: Land
ho!" and has replied to the officers
"Where away?'' a star over the rock OF
other danger may be noted and brought
| down in line with the point on the COM
pass and its proper bearing obtained
"The stars" said n sea captain TO
me, 'move apparently from east to west,
| so that when we find our first star will
no longer do we select another. Thisis
| the case with all bu. the north or polar
star, which is in line with two certain
stars in the Great Bear or Dipper and
| the orbit is so small that il is goou
| guide for all night: and we can even de-
tect errors of the compass by it."
The north star is of course as true
| as, or even truer than, the most accu'
rate compass. To the "other things
that sailors steer by, the compass 49,
| however, what steam is to electricity
To produce an electric light you require
dynamo; to run the dynamo you need
steam. You may feel the wind on your
moist brow or hand; but the direction
from which it blows you can-eXcept IN
case of the regular trade winds, or ub'
less you are up in sea lore-tell only
from the compass. Then by sailing
close to the wind you can keep on tha'
course without looking at the com
pass. But the sailors naturally have a
large accumulation Of weather lore, ana
in addition in the trades" there are
except in case of violent storms, certain
Irregularities in the winds in certain
| parts of the ocean, and certain other re-
curing signs, which the helmsman caA
utilize, and which often enable him 10
dispense with the compass altogether
For instance, if in standing south 10
round the Horn, you see the magellan
ic Clouds" (bright patches in the Milky
Way directly above the ship. change
your course for the Straits of Magellan
st, Nicholas