I recently got an informational email from Amnautical regarding their Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS) offers over 15,800 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs). While this particular service is mainly used for commercial vessels it got me thinking. How did people navigate the seas when even essential pieces of equipment like charts and compasses were available? So, I began researching to create this article and combined information available on the internet and my own knowledge acquired throughout the years of sailing.

The information here is very simplified, but everything is here. With less practice than is required to use a sextant. You can find your way home in almost any condition. Remember, NO PRUDENT NAVIGATOR USES ANY SINGLE AID TO NAVIGATE AND DETERMINE HIS POSITION. There are enough different things mentioned here to answer the following question: Where the hell am I and where am I going?

Steering Without a Compass

It is easy to steer by the stars at night, but what about the daytime? Simply get your course at night, and as the sun comes up, you just notice the angle you are sailing to the swells. When the wind changes direction, the swells do not change direction immediately. First, you will notice a small ripple that builds gradually into a larger swell. When the wind settles down to a steady direction, you simply maintain the new angle to the new swell. Instead of the older and growing smaller swell from the previous wind direction. When night falls, you can again check your course and steer by the stars. Beginning the next morning again with sunrise.

Signs of Shipping Lanes

When the Polynesian navigators first devised this method of navigation, they did not have to deal with shipping lanes. As a matter of fact, they never lost a boat until modern times and the invention of large freighters and tankers. Since this is rather new, this method of finding shipping lanes is also new.

As a ship passes through the water, they leave a telltale trail behind them that can be read like a roadmap. They pump their bilges and throw cigarette buts and garbage overboard. The oil slick that follows them will break up and spread faster with heavy weather than calm weather as will the garbage become more scattered with heavy weather than calm. A careful inspection of floating debris will allow you to determine how long it has been in the water. And, the direction of wind and current will tell you from where it came. 

Signs of Land – Birds

Some birds stay relatively close to land, while others live far at sea. Let’s take the ever-present seagull. The land-bound gull that lives at the neighborhood garbage dump or the fishing pier is seldom found much more than ten to twenty miles from land. The larger seagulls that live at sea and seldom if ever come to land short of laying eggs. They can be found almost everywhere except near shore. 

Other birds only go to sea to fish during the day and return to shore at night. As the sun is getting low in the sky, you will notice the flocks of birds heading toward shore. A quick note of direction will tell you where it is. And,00 when the sun comes up in the morning, you can start looking for it. The different types of birds that fish at sea during the day often limit themselves to set distances that they will travel to hunt and seldom go beyond that distance. The type of bird can quickly give you the distance to shore.

Signs of Land – Clouds

On a sunny day, the bottoms of clouds can tell you what is below them. They mirror the reflection of the sun from the surface below. A green tint will show vegetation, while a creamy or yellowish color will signify a reef. Of course, the blue color will be from deep water.

There are types of clouds that are seldom seen over water. A cloud-like that will tell you that land is near as will the absence of them remind you that deep water is around you. Just remember that the day may not be favorable for the formation of clouds, so look for other signs of land too.

Signs of Land – Swells

The next time you go down to your boat, look down it the pilings in the water. Notice how the ripples hit the piling and then are reflected back. The reflected ripples are now in a circular pattern. Also, look at the ripples that pass the piling. They tend to be pulled in toward the backside a little bit.

Now go down to the beach on a rough day. As the surf pounds the beach, you will notice how the waves climb the beach and then rush back into the ocean, causing a reflected wave just like the ones from the dock pilings. Then, you watch the reflected swells from the beach and the pilings, you will notice that after a few minutes, you can see the reflected swells farther and farther from the source of impact. 

When the ocean swells, which are mostly submerged, come into shallow water, they become higher and sharper. They come in contact with an island, for instance, they will reflect swells in the same way as the piling reflects the ripples.

With a good swell running and an island that comes to the surface or a reef near the surface, it will also be reflected in the same pattern as the ripples hitting the piling. It is not unusual to see reflected swells from land or an island as far as sixty miles away. If you head directly into these reflected swells, you will soon come directly to the source, the island, or land. 

Finding Latitude

In northern latitudes, you can see the North Star is easily found in the big dipper. It is almost directly north and varies little. As the sun sets, you can see the north star and the horizon at the same time. The angle of the star and the horizon is your approximate latitude. A marked stick or pencil at arm’s length used daily at sunset will tell you if you are north or south of your destination or keep you going east and west.

The Egyptian navigators had a series of pieces of wood that, if held with the bottom edge on the horizon, The top edge would indicate if they were north or south of their destination. With a little practice, you can even estimate the latitude to transfer the information to your chart with relative accuracy. In southern latitudes, the southern cross is visible, although it is not quite as accurate.

Finding Currents

Currents are a little bit harder to find if they are slow-moving, but the gulf stream is much different. There are many easy ways to find it. 

Currents – Air Temperature

As you enter a current, you can sometimes tell the difference in air temperature. If you enter the gulf stream from, say, New York, you will feel a definite temperature change. It will be as much as ten to fifteen degrees different from the surrounding temperature. Entering from Florida will usually be much lower a difference because the air temperature is much higher surrounding the Gulf Stream.

In the case of the Humbolt current off the California coast, you will notice the opposite change. Smaller currents with less change in temperature difference will be harder to find this way, but you will be surprised to see how the difference in only a few degrees will make a difference if you are looking for it. The less wind, the easier it is to feel the difference in temperatures.

Currents – Floatsum and Jetsam 

As currents flow through the water, they have a definite edge where seaweed and trash gather, causing long lines of these objects. Of course, the weather can cause this material to break up and drift off. Calm weather is better for this type of detection. 

Currents – Visual 

Also, on calm days the edges of the current will show up as a change in color or ripples may even form if the current is running strong. With bigger swells and turbulence You will see a difference in the wave pattern and height. When the wind is against the current, the swells will become higher and sharper often times they will be breaking, unlike the swells outside the current. The opposite will happen with winds behind the current.

By checking your charts before departure and from experience, you will know the approximate course and speed of these currents, although the exact position of the current will have to be found from the signs noted here. You can increase your speed over the bottom by following these currents or staying away from them if they are going against your course of travel.

Finding Drift

In a powerboat, the wind and current only affect drift. However, in a sailboat, these affect the drift and the effect of the slippage of the keel in the water. The keel, along with keeping the boat upright, will also help (but not stop) the boat from sliding sideways from the winds tug on the sails, which is much more than on the sides of a powerboat. As the sailboat moves through the water, you can look over the stern and notice the angle between the heading of the boat and the course of the boat’s wake. An additional allowance for the current will have to be added to get the final solution.

Emergency Chart

An emergency chart can be drawn should the original one be destroyed or lost due to an accident. Simply draw the latitude and longitude lines in as best as you can remember. Then places a position on the chart to represent where you think you were at the time of the accident that causes the loss of your chart. Using the information above and dead reckoning, you will soon be home. 

Navigating Without a Chart or Compass – Note

Print this entire document and put a copy aboard your boat. You can never tell when it may come in handy. You will also have it to look through on long trips when you get bored, and you just might try some of these things out and find that it is very easy to use this information noted here.