The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of land because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse hits an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat back to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer and as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

Joe

"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
..
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of land
because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near
unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse hits
an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat back
to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer and
as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

I'd turn on the GPS.

Scotty

Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
.
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of land
because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near
unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse hits
an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat back
to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer and
as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

I'd turn on the GPS.

Sorry....Suzy had it ..and a beer buzz....... it fell overboard.

Joe

Scotty

"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
..

Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message

oups.com..
.
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of
land
because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near
unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse
hits
an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the
lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat
back
to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer
and
as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped
functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus
the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

I'd turn on the GPS.

Sorry....Suzy had it ..and a beer buzz....... it fell
overboard.

Then I'd activate the EPIRB in the lifeboat.

Scotty

Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
.

Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message

oups.com..
.
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of
land
because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near
unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse
hits
an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the
lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat
back
to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer
and
as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped
functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus
the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

I'd turn on the GPS.

Sorry....Suzy had it ..and a beer buzz....... it fell
overboard.

Then I'd activate the EPIRB in the lifeboat.

Suzy saw it, thought it was an empty... tossed it searching for a
un-opened 6 pack of epirbs.

What now?

Joe

Scotty

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...

and sinks.
fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
water it shorted out and stopped
functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat,
minus
the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum
soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to
go?

I'd turn on the GPS.

Sorry....Suzy had it ..and a beer buzz....... it fell
overboard.

Then I'd activate the EPIRB in the lifeboat.

Suzy saw it, thought it was an empty... tossed it
searching for a
un-opened 6 pack of epirbs.

What now?


After throwing Suzy overboard, I'd sit and wait for the CG
to rescue me, as you know, they keep good track of those
cruise ships.

Scotty

Joe wrote:
Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
.
Scotty wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message

oups.com..
.
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of
land
because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near
unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse
hits
an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the
lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat
back
to land.
Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant
flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer
and
as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped
functioning.
You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus
the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked
Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?
I'd turn on the GPS.
Sorry....Suzy had it ..and a beer buzz....... it fell
overboard.

Then I'd activate the EPIRB in the lifeboat.

Suzy saw it, thought it was an empty... tossed it searching for a
un-opened 6 pack of epirbs.

What now?

Joe
Scotty

Throw Susie to the nearest herd of hammerheads?

Joe,

I'm pretty much with Scotty on this one. With Satellite viewing, Radio
check in, and Sea-Air Rescue, staying ON STATION is the proper thing to
do!

For your "Let's Pretend" You don't say which ocean your on but if you
hit an Iceberg you are at a high latitude N or S. You are never without
a crude sextant as long as you have a arm and a fist.( A closed fist at
arm's length is 10 degrees. The sun rises in the East and sets in the
west. Local Noon has the shortest shadows.

If you have a smashed sextant abroad that means you have the "Sight
tables" with you. You should have no problem getting your Lat.

LON; With out a watch is a little difficult. A estimate is possible by
figuring your, SS Mickey Mouse is a fairly new Vessel and cruises at
around 20 knot and the LNT + the time she left the last port shouldn't
be to far off

But stay on Station, in this day and age is the proper thing to do; if
your cruise ship sinks.

Now, if that rust bucket was taking on more water than the pumps could
handle that would be another story.




http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomPage

http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ILLDRINKTOTHAT

I actually carry (on my boat, not person) a packet called
"Particularized Navigation" by the late Francis Wright. She was my
navigation teacher and good friend, and had an office down the hall
from me.

The packet includes a small book which explains basic celestial and
other navigation techniques, and has the tables needed to take simple
fixes. It even has a method for determining time. If covers various
emergency situations, such as lost almanac, etc. This is a 66 page
book, easy to carry.

The second item is a 50 page pamphlet, that includes simplified
instructions, plus various tables including the day by day Sun
declination tables, that, with a Sextant would give you latitude to
about a mile. This is small enough to slip in your pocket.

Finally, there are several sheets of paper, that includes a protractor
template that would give you about one degree accuracy as a sextant,
and simple declination tables. With care you might get 30-60 mile
accuracy on Latitude.

Whenever I travel on a Mickey Mouse cruise ship, I carry this.

P.S. You may remember that my late Father-in-Law navigated 1800 miles
in an open lifeboat after being torpedoed at the end of WWII. They
had a sextant, tables and charts, and Movado wris****ch. Dave claims
they always knew where they were, and only missed Tobago because they
were afraid of going in at night. They ending up near Curacao, having
sailed from 800 miles west of Dakar.



Joe wrote:
The fact is most of you here never leave the sight of land because your
boats are not steel and so seaworthy as to be near unsinkable, so let's
pretend.

You are on a Disney cruise ship, the SS Mickey Mouse hits an iceberg
and sinks.

Luckly you, clawed your way aboard one of the lifeboats.
Now you must take command and and navigate your boat back to land.

Robert fumbled aboard and crushed the only sextant flatter than a
pancake.

The only watch you have is a Rolex bought from a NYer and as soon as
it hit... water it shorted out and stopped functioning.

You have the typical items found in a lifeboat, minus the
compass(stolen from all the lifeboats by a rum soaked Canook) how do
you figure out where you are, and were you need to go?

Joe

Whenever I travel on a Mickey Mouse cruise ship, I carry this.

Smart move, a personal IR strobe, and epirb would be a good ideal to.

P.S. You may remember that my late Father-in-Law navigated 1800 miles
in an open lifeboat after being torpedoed at the end of WWII. They
had a sextant, tables and charts, and Movado wris****ch. Dave claims
they always knew where they were, and only missed Tobago because they
were afraid of going in at night. They ending up near Curacao, having
sailed from 800 miles west of Dakar.

Yes it was an epic story, I still like the baseball liberty story best
:0)

Check out this lifeboat story:
http://www.tor.cc/articles/thumper.htm

Funny read, situation... and sounds like a trip of a lifetime.

Joe