Lectures in Navigation

by Ernest Gallaudet Draper

Now such a circle on the surface of the earth would be very large - so large that a small arc of its circumference, say 25 or 30 miles, would be practically a straight line.

Suppose S to be the point over which the sun is vertical and GF part of the circumference of a circle drawn around the point. Suppose you were at B and from an altitude of the sun, taken by sextant, you worked out your position. You would find yourself on a little arc ABC which, for all purposes in Navigation, is a straight line at right angles to the true bearing of the sun from the point S. You can readily see this from the above diagram. Suppose your observer is at H. His line is GHI, which is again a straight line at right angles to the true bearing of the sun. He is not certain he is at H. He may be at G or I. He knows, however, he is somewhere on the line GHI, though where he is on that line he cannot tell exactly. That line GHI or ABC or DEF is the line of position and such a line is called a Sumner Line, after Capt. Thomas Sumner, who explained the theory some 45 years ago. Put in your Note-Book:

Any person taking an altitude of a celestial body must be, for all practical purposes, on a straight line which is at right angles to the true bearing of the body observed.

It should be perfectly clear now that if the sun bears due North or South of the observer, i.e., if the sun is on the observer's meridian, the resulting line of position must run due East and West. In other words it is a parallel of latitude. And that explains why a noon observation is the best of the day for getting your latitude accurately. Again, if the sun bears due East or West the line of position must bear due North and South. And that explains why a morning or afternoon sight - about 8-9 A.M. or 3-4 P.M., if the sun bears either East or West respectively, is the best time for determining your North and South line, or longitude.

Now suppose you take an observation at 8 A.M. and you are not sure of your D.R. latitude. Your 8 A.M. position when the sun was nearly due East, will give, you an almost accurate North and South line and longitude. Suppose that from 8 A.M. to noon you sailed NE 60 miles. Suppose at noon you get another observation. That will give you an East and West line, for then the sun bears true North and South. An East and West line is your correct latitude. Now you have an 8 A.M. observation which is nearly correct for longitude and a noon position which is correct for latitude. How can you combine the two so as to get accurately both your latitude and longitude? Put in your Note-Book:

Through the 8 A.M. position, draw a line on the chart at right angles to the sun's true bearing. Suppose the sun bore true E ½ S. Then your line of position would run N ½ E. Mark it 1st Position Line.

Now draw a line running due East and West at right angles to the N-S noon bearing of the sun and mark this line Second Position Line. Advance your First Position Line the true course and distance sailed from 8 A.M. to noon, and through the extremity draw a third line exactly parallel to the first line of position. Where a third line (the First Position Line advanced) intersects the Second Position Line, will be your position at noon. It cannot be any other if your calculations are correct. You knew you were somewhere on your 8 A.M. line, you know you are somewhere on your noon line, and the only spot where you can be on both at once is the point where they intersect. You don't necessarily have to wait until noon to work two lines. You can do it at any time if a sufficient interval of time between sights is allowed. The whole matter simply resolves itself into getting your two lines of position, having them intersect and taking the point of intersection as the position of your ship.

There is one other way to get two lines to intersect and it is one of the best of all for fixing your position accurately. It is by getting lines of position by observation of two stars. If, for instance, you can get two stars, one East and the other West of you, you can take observations of both so closely together as to be practically simultaneous. Then your Easterly star would give you a line like AA' and the westerly star the line BB' and you would be at the intersection S.