Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-06-26
STEERING BY A STAR.
Sailors Can Keep the Course Better This
Way Than by a Compass.

In st. Nicholas there is al article on
Steering Without Compass" by
Gustave Kobbe. The author says:
That sailors prefer not to steer by
compass must have struck you as one
curious fact. Here is another. A
steersman can keep his ship better Oh
her course at night, if it be clear, than
during the day. Look ahead, get
star, and steady her head by it. SO
says the A. B. of the ocean to the sail
or who has not yet won his degree.
For to the helmsmau the stars are like
the pillar of fire in Scripture. They
are the hands on the dial of the night.
They twinkle "good- to poor
Jack as he sits up aloft or stands at
the helm. and wink ''good-morning"
and "good-by' to him with daylight.
1t is obvious that the 'to" or "off"
movement of n vessel can he more
quickly detected by small, bright oh.
ject like star dead ahead than by the
monotonous sweep of the horizon, or
by peering into the compass-boX. The
same ancient mariner who told me
about measuring the length of the off
and in shore legs by the life of can
dies, told me that once, when the oil
in the binnacle- lamps gave out and he
was steering by star, he occasionally
struck match and looked at the COM
pass "to see if the star had moved
any" He was a genuine "sea-cook,"
this ancient mariner, being steward of
the vessel on which was sailing; and
he would bob up out of the cooks gal
ley amidships like seal bobbing up
through hole in the ice, and proceed
to spin yarns.
When the lookout sings out, Gland
ho!" and has replied to the officers
"Where away?" a star over the rock or
other danger may be noted and brought
down in line with the point on the
compass, and its proper bearing OBJ
tanned.
''The stars" snid sea-captain to
me, ''move apparently from east to
west, 80 that when we find our first
star will no longer do, we select an
other. This is the case with all but
the north or pole star, which is in line
with two certain stars in the Great
Bear or Dipper, and the orbit is so
small that it is good guide for all
night; and we can even detect all error
of the compass by it,"
The north star is of course rs true
as, or even truer than, the most accu-
rate compass. To the "other things"
that sailors steer by, the compass is,
however, what steam is to electricity.
To produce an electric light you re-
quire 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 unless you are up in
sea -lore-tell only from the compass.
Then by sailing close to the wind You
can keep on that course without look
ing at the compass. But the sailors
naturally have large accumulation of
weather-lo and in addition in the
Grades" there are, except in case Of
violent storms. certain Irregularities in
the winds in certain parts of the
ocean, and certain other recurring
signs, which the helmsman can utilize,
and which often enable him to dis
pense with the compass altogether.
For instance, if in standing south to
round the Horn, you see the "Magel-
lanic Clouds" (bright patches in the
Milky Way directly above the ship,
change your course for the Straits Of
Magellan.