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Peter Fogg wrote-
|
| > "If a zenith body can be found and identified then the
| > boat's position is known."

and I replied-
| > No, it isn't. Not unless you know the time. How do you get that,
| > without any instrument?

To which Peter's reply was-

| Refer to helpful comment above re lack of precision. To put that
another
| way, how would he not have at least a rough idea of the time? Lack
of
| precision is not necessarily the same as lack of accuracy. Folk
without a
| written language tend to have great memories and compensating skills
we may
| find difficult to comprehend. Without a clock they may get better,
for
| example, at estimating the passage of time. Remember that the
apparent
| movement of the stars across the night sky is itself akin to a giant
clock,
| or reference. The point I was trying to make, that I took as the
moral of
| Creamer's accomplishment, is that nav should be a holistic process.
We
| should be ready to embrace, or at least consider, all possible
methods.

====================

To infer one's position from knowing that a particular star is at the
zenith, as Peter has proposed, the time that's needed is not local
time; it's Greenwich time. So how does he suggest that Greenwich time
should be obtained, without a clock? What he has written above is
utter nonsense.

George

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.

   

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