Navigating by Water, Sky, and Wind - Sailing by the Sky

How did old-time navigators use the heavenly bodies to guide their vessels?  The rising and setting sun indicated east and west. At dawn, sailors could note how much the sun had shifted by comparing its position with the fading stars. At night, they could get  their bearings from Polaris-the North Star-which appears to be almost directly above the North Pole after dusk. Farther south, a bright constellation known as the Southern Cross helped them to locate the South Pole. Soon a clear night, sailors on all seas could check their heading by means of at least one celestial reference.

But these were not the only astral guideposts.  The Polynesians and other seafarers of the Pacific, for instance, could read the night sky like a road map. One of their techniques involved setting a course toward a star that they knew rose or set on the horizon in the direction of their goal.  Throughout the night, these navigators also checked other star alignments to make sure that they were on course. If their heading was wrong, the heavens showed them how to correct it. 

How reliable was this system?  At a time when European sailors often clung to shore in fear of plunging off the edge of a flat earth, Pacific mariners were apparently making long mid-ocean crossings between relatively tiny islets. For example,more than 1,500 years ago, Polynesians left the Marquesas Islands and headed north  across the vast Pacific Ocean. By the time they went ashore in Hawaii, they had journeyed 2,300 miles!  Island folklore tells of ancient Polynesians voyages back and forth between Hawaii and Tahiti.  Some historians say that these accounts are mere legends. Nevertheless,  modern-day seafarers have repeated that voyage, navigating by the stars, ocean swells, and other natural phenomena-without instruments.  

Next time: Navigating by Water, Sky, and Wind -Riding the Wind

From the jw.org publications