Craig wrote: - .....Thinking this over, the ancient Pacific navigators could have used very much the same system using a sand-clock calibrated for 24 hours. Accuracy would not have been so great but then they would at least have had some measure of local time..... Bill Covert wrote: - ......Creamer navigated without the use of compass, sextant or electronic instruments! He eschewed even a wristwatch, but took an hourglass for changes of watch!...... G"day, The sand clock idea would work, after all they were used by European navies for navigation with log and line thrown overboard, and the Pacific navigators were great traders so they might have been able to buy them in exchanges with the S.E. Asian mainland. A water clock, dripping water into calibrated cups is another possibility. Or perhaps placing a rod that had been marked off into divisions, at the bow and an observer with his back against the mast or some other fixed location where he could locate and steady his head, to use the time it took for stars rising over the horizon to pass each division as a time reference - that would make a great clock! Looking forward to finding the articles recommended by Rich and see if they provide the background. All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Aug 01 2010 - 02:39:27 PDT
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