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Hi Andy_J and Joshua_C,

Andy thanks for showing your workings, and how you obtained the same latitude as the other 4 of us that arrived at the same answer.

Just one little correction to your Upper Meridian Pass calcs Andy.

You gave a "remainder" of 12° 34.6' , you then proceeded to turn that into a "time" relative to 13 hours UT, so you divided the "remainder" by 15.0 (degrees per hour). However, that is the "rate" of the Sun in the Sky, not a STAR !

I think you will find if you divide 12° 34.6' by 15.041 (the Sidereal Rate) you will get 50 mins and 10 seconds (not 18 seconds). You will then be able to derive your DR latitude "exactly".

Regarding Longitude, if we take our mutually agreed NORTH 47° 30' and place that latitude line across Puget Sound. There is a very limited range of Longitudes that allow enough Northerly clear Horizon to be able to take a sextant reading of Kochab, when Joshua took his reading on Sat 7th Feb 2026 01:55:15 UT.

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Most Western Longitude:

West 122° 28.6'

Kochab Azimuth = 0° 16.9'

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Most Eastern Longitude:

West 122° 25.3'

Kochab Azimuth = 0° 18.0'

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A span of only 4.1 Km in Longitude.

Joshua's reading was approx 3 minutes (in time) AFTER the Meridian Transit of Kochab.

So not exactly "Due North" but never the less, closer than I would have thought, by using ones eyes to "line up with Polaris" to try and determine NORTH  !

Joshua, any chance you can give us your coordinates (from a Map or GPS) when you took your sextant reading please ?

Regards, Geoff Hitchcox, Christchurch, New Zealand.