Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 5.5.
Kalaniopu'u, King of Owyhee, bringing presents to Captain Cook. This
1781 watercolor is by John Webber, an artist with Cook's expedition. The boats that
the South Sea Islanders used on the open ocean were larger versions of such
catamarans.
Image from Wikipedia.
the setting of Vega in the northeast) and the stars at right angles to these.
Thus, a navigator would be able to ascertain his heading from a night sky
that was three-quarters covered with cloud.
Elaborate mental exercises from childhood taught a student of naviga-
tion the relative positions of islands. He might then be asked for the
distance between two of them, or the relative direction, to ensure that the
knowledge he acquired was not simply a list of names, but a structure—
a searchable database with cross-references. The young navigator would
then be taught the locations and directions of sea lanes between the vari-
