NavList:

NavListers will be familiar with the text book instructions for emergency (ie life raft) navigation by sextant made from a piece of card, string, weight attached to string, angular scale marked on the card, align edge of card with celestial body and read angular height.  I have never been in a life raft other than for training certification but I have a pretty good idea that if I were in one, the prospect of finding card, string, weight, protractor and pencil to make an emergency sextant a remote one. However, I have an orienteering compass. Mine is a Suunto, but there are others. It has an inclinometer. That is, it can be used to measure gradients. I take it with me when sailing.

After dinner, still chewing up left over turkey, the moon was going past so I decided to check out the compass and its inclinometer. I measured the altitude of the moon and used Frank's app to tell me what the altitude actually was, given my known location. I'm pleased to report the little Suunto did a surprisingly good job. On several subsequent sights, I could read it to an accuracy of about 2 degrees give or take. Not enough to know where I am, but enough to know which direction to head for home or which country I am drifting towards. The more I learn about the simple and reliable ways, the more I figure that I have wasted money on expensive electronics over the years.