Internet on the Ocean
 

On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 23:16:49 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:


"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
.. .

It's been some years since I read the book but I seriously doubt that
an experienced ship's Captain would have set off without navigation
equipment. If I remember there is at least one reference in the book
of Slocum taking a lunar sight to establish longitude.

Likely he didn't have a chronometer though if he was shooting lunars.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

My recollection is that he managed with a cheap alarm clock

Then he wasn't using it for navigation. Thus the Luna sights. Or he
was running down a line of latitude. Or he was using dead reckoning
for much of the trip which seems most likely.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

Internet on the Ocean
 

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:19:51 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.

That would screw up your noon sights a bit.

One of the nice things about a noon sight is that your time does not
have to be dead nuts accurate. You just keep shooting the suns
altitude until it peaks out and then you can compute latitude directly
from that if you know what the date is.

Internet on the Ocean
 

Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:19:51 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.
That would screw up your noon sights a bit.

One of the nice things about a noon sight is that your time does not
have to be dead nuts accurate. You just keep shooting the suns
altitude until it peaks out and then you can compute latitude directly
from that if you know what the date is.

By coincidence, I read about half of Slocum at the beginning of the
summer as a "Kindle Test." (I since got one and have read about a dozen
books; highly recomended since it comes with with lifetime internet.) I
was about a page shy of the lunar sight mention, the only reference to
celestial in the book. Slocum was 47 days out of Juan Fernandez,
approaching the Marquesas, and wanted to check his dead reckoning. His
first Lunar Distance sight was off by 200 miles, so he tried again and
again was way off. He then went into the tables and found a flaw, which
when corrected, placed him 5 miles off the DR. Not bad for 47 days. He
continued on to Samoa without stopping.

He never mentions any other celestial, and only has a cheap tin clock.
However, he did have a patent log spinning off the stern, so he has a
good measure of speed/distance. He does mention the Lunars are a lost
art, now that chronometers are commonplace. A few years later radio
time signals would completely eliminate the need for Lunars.

Internet on the Ocean
 

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:15:01 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Didn't Slocum use an ordinary beat up alarm clock for a chronometer? Do you
think today he would have made do with a $10 Cassio?

A $10 Casio would be better than the finest chronometer available in
his day. It would have been considered as miraculous as a cell phone
or hand held GPS.

Internet on the Ocean
 

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:15:01 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

In article ,
says...
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:21:07 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:28:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

silverdragon wrote in news:91685a8a-6561-44c5-
:

This is probably a stupid question but I haven't come across an answer
in any of my sailing books.

How would you go about getting e-mail and an internet connection while
on the open ocean? What kind of equipment would you need to buy, and
what is the cost of the service?

Learn to disconnect from the Internet. I know it's not easy, but I used to
run an Internet company and am very used to being connected. However, with
Sailmail/Airmail you can still be connected and not need the web interface.

Remember, cruising is about letting go of your land based connections. And
believe it or not, you can do it!

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Slocum got along without an engine or anything electric.

Casady

I wonder how many people would be satisfied in cruising the way that
Slocum did it?

And, if Slocum was alive today would he would want a GPS or chart
plotter?
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

This raises another issue. Here and there we have historic ships maintained in
just the way they were when built. No electronics, no engines, no labor saving
ship handling equipment, etc. But my belief is that any such ships that might
have remained in profitable service would have been continually upgraded
throughout their working (or fighting) lives until the entire platform (the
ship) just got too obsolete for any more retrofitting. So putting an engine in
the Half Moon (or Spray) is not an anachronism.

Didn't Slocum use an ordinary beat up alarm clock for a chronometer? Do you
think today he would have made do with a $10 Cassio?

The Bugis people of Sulawasi Island, in Indonesia, were famous
seafarers and traded all over S.E.A. They built, and still build, very
distinctive vessels and I remember seeing them late as the 1980's
moored side by side, bow into the dock, in both Singapore and Jakarta
- looked like an 1800's photo of Gloucester, Mass.

In the 1990's we were building a plant in Central Java and had some
commissioning engineers over from the States and one weekend I took
them down to the harbor to show them some "Bugis Schooners".

The harbor was still full of them but every one had the masts removed
and a big diesel engine slung over the stern to power it.

It appears that the people who actually make their living with water
craft are quite interested in modern technology and are quite
indifferent to the fact that "traditional" ways are being ignored.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

Internet on the Ocean
 

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:47:02 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:15:01 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Didn't Slocum use an ordinary beat up alarm clock for a chronometer? Do you
think today he would have made do with a $10 Cassio?

A $10 Casio would be better than the finest chronometer available in
his day. It would have been considered as miraculous as a cell phone
or hand held GPS.

Any of the electric watches can be adjusted to keep time within a
second per month. A insulating plastic case with metal against the
skin does a good job of keeping the temperature steady.

Casady

Internet on the Ocean
 

On Fri, 4 Sep 2009 21:20:48 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:21:07 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:28:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

silverdragon wrote in news:91685a8a-6561-44c5-
:

This is probably a stupid question but I haven't come across an answer
in any of my sailing books.

How would you go about getting e-mail and an internet connection while
on the open ocean? What kind of equipment would you need to buy, and
what is the cost of the service?

Learn to disconnect from the Internet. I know it's not easy, but I used
to
run an Internet company and am very used to being connected. However,
with
Sailmail/Airmail you can still be connected and not need the web
interface.
Remember, cruising is about letting go of your land based connections.
And
believe it or not, you can do it!

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Slocum got along without an engine or anything electric.

Casady

I wonder how many people would be satisfied in cruising the way that
Slocum did it?

And, if Slocum was alive today would he would want a GPS or chart
plotter?
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)


One thing for sure, if Capt. Slocum were alive today he certainly wouldn't
abide being stuck at a Bangkok dock for over thirty years. When he weighed
anchor for a circumnavigation he didn't stop and rot half way around.

Wilbur Hubbard


ROFTL!

Mort
-
"Yes, I had you kill filed - until you interjected yourself into a
thread that I and Larby had. You "forced yourself" onto my attention
as it were." - pitiful lie on sct from Goebbels in Bangkok, 31 Mar
2009