Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1918-02-28
take UP STUDY
OF NAVIGATION
Revival of Seagoing Spirit
Arouses Widespread Inter-
est in the Subject.
Glasses in Navigation Being Conducted
by Recruiting Service of United
States Shipping Board-12,o00
New Officers Needed.

New OTTicefS NeeQeo.
WashingtOn.-OneO of the intereStin
features Of the present great revival
seagoing spirit throughout the cou1
try is the widespread popularity Of th
study of navigation.
Reports reaching the United State
shipping board indicate lively interes
all over the country in the study
this ancient science, which helpe
make the nation great in it's earlieS
years Of independence.
Glasses in navigation, conducted
the recruiting service Of the board,
train officers for the ships of the ne
merchant Marine are being conducte
on both coasts and on the Great Lake
Candidates for admission come frol
every section of the Union.
The cause of this nationwide intel
est in navigation is to be found in th
gigantic development of the country
merchant marine. It is anticipate
that not less than 10000 new officer
will be required to handle the Amer
can cargo-carrying vessels now undo
construction, and not less than $500
men will be wanted for the crews.
A merchant officer today has man
advantages in studying navigation tha
were not known to his seagoing anceE
tors. There was never time whe
the aids to navigation were so nume]
Gus as now, or so well developed.
While the manner in which nav
gator determines his ships position O
the vast face Of the deep must Away
be something of mystery to the lands
man, it does not long remain SO to til
earnest student Of navigation. Som
of the students at shipping boar
schools have been able, after thre
weeks study, to determine by obse1
walton the position Of a ship at Sc
within three miles, which is considere
a creditable performance. The bes
navigators, on large ships, when abb
to check up their observations by tn
work of more than one observer, some
times do no better.
Early Navigation.
In the early days Of ocean navigs
ton the navigator never knew his pH
sition at sea within many leagues.
was customary for ships on the vo.
age from Europe to America to sa
westerly until a landfall was mad
then coast to their destination.
Columbus followed this method, fC
want of anything better.
Given sextant and chrOnometer, tn
navigator today reduces the job {
finding his position to one Of Garrett
figuring. Latitude is found by obsel
walton Of the height, or altitude, Of tn
sun at noon.
Longitude is quite another thing,
being the distance between two place
ON the earth's surface, expressed
degrees. It is based on the rOtatio
of the earth on it's axis every "a hour
causing meridians Is degrees apart
meridian being a line between tn
equator and the poles-to pass unde
a certain fixed point in the heavens 6
one-hour intervals.
For determining longitude all chrt
nOmeters used on American and Bri
ish ships are set on the time of tn
meridian Of Greenwich obseryatOr,
near London. French ships figur
from the meridian Of Paris.
Knowing by his chronometer tn
time at Greenwich, and by Observable
Of the sun at a. m. Or 4 p. m. his ow
time, the mariner, by the aid Of tables
has only to find the difference in thes
two times, to find his distance in dt
grees from Greenwich. This found
the distance is easily expressed i
miles, and marks his position on hi
chart.
"Dead Reckoning."
Prior to the perfection of the chrc
nometer, the common method of deter
mining longitude was by dead reckon
ing" that is, estimating a ships ri
day by day, by means of the log, dc
vice for telling her speed by means 0
the rate at which knots in a line, pal
out astern, with a wooden '1og' at tn
end, slipped over the rail in a give
number Of seconds. This was unce1
tain, and battling winds and fou
weather made it entirely unreliable.
Many fatal shipwrecks resulted from
mistakes in estimating a ships position
by dead reckoning. England lost sew
eral Of her best ships of war in tn
eighteenth century by their LOSING
their bearings and crashing upon ;
rocky shore. One of it's bravest ad
mirais, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, lost hi
life in wreck caused in this way.
The world owes much in navigation
to the Portuguese, as it was Primo
Henry the Navigator of that nation
who collated all the ancient lore OF
the subject, in the fifteenth century
and pointed the way to better means
of determining latitude than by the an
cient astrolabe and cross staff.