All at sea - The Navigator Issue 28
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‘Think Viking’
A recent edition of The Navigator discussed the aspects of chart layers. This set me thinking of how, over thousands of years, there have been so many ‘layers’ added to the science of marine navigation, in terms of equipment used to navigate and the guidance as how best to do so.
When preparing students for oral exams, I suggest the maxim: ‘Think Viking’, to remind them of their priorities when departing for sea – the same priorities that the earliest sea voyagers worked to when navigating uncharted waters for the !rst time in relatively simple craft.
Priority No.1 – Floating
If a vessel can’t float it can’t move (navigate). In order to float, a vessel needs sufficient water underneath it. Therefore, the most important piece of navigation equipment is a means of depth sounding. To continue floating in all conditions likely to be encountered while navigating requires stability and watertight integrity.
Priority No.2 – Propulsion and steering
To control navigation once under way, (as opposed to drifting), a vessel needs some form of propulsion, e.g. oars (and oarsmen), sails and engines (and fuel), some form of steering (and helmsman), and a means of stopping drifting with tide or wind when required, e.g. moorings/anchors.
Priority No.3 – Direction and progress
While in sight of land, in daylight and clear visibility, the human eye provides direction and some idea of position and progress. Without visible land or astral marks to navigate by, direction needs to be provided by some form of ‘compass’, (for the Vikings, this was a piece of magnetic lodestone), and to progress by some form of ‘log’ and timekeeper that can be recorded (charted) for future use.
Priority No.4 – Crew
To sound depths, control propulsion and steering, and to monitor navigation progress the Viking vessel required crew, who needed to be fit and able to carry out these functions, before they could even think about pillage and plunder, when and if they reached a foreign shore!
Priority No.5 – Monitoring and maintaining watertight integrity
Damage to a vessel’s hull from contact with the ground or other floating objects, or due to fire or poor maintenance, risks breaching the watertight integrity required to continue floating. Minimising this risk while navigating requires continuous lookout and what we now refer to as situational awareness.
Increasing sophistication of navigation equipment over thousands of years has enabled us to navigate more efficiently. However, we could, if required, still safely navigate in the same way as the Vikings did. Food for thought?
John Simpson, AFNI
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