Roger Long wrote:
When did these incidents happen? I lived on the Cape in the late 70's
so I may be transferring the memory back to that association. When
did they start installing GPS on big ships?


As systems developed they were installed on ships. "Sat Nav" in the
70's, "GPS" in the 80's.
Nowadays you are seeing a greater usage of integrated systems (GPS,
radar, chart plotter, AIS, Doppler).
The biggest problem (aside from the mistaken total reliance) is that the
chart display and GPS don't always match exactly.
BTW, squat has been known about for many, many years .... it just hasn't
been given as much attention as it needed by those in "open water"
conditions. Since the QE2 incident you see far more ships with "squat
tables".

otn