“Hey Mate, where are we? Navigation Before GPS” New exhibit at Oriental, NC

[BruceW]

Here's a notice about it:

The upcoming Special Exhibit at Oriental's History Museum illustrates some
of the traditional navigational methods for coastal piloting and off-shore
passage making, along with the tools used with those methods. The
exhibit opens on Sunday, January 31 with a 2PM lecture on Celestial
Navigation. Two more programs are scheduled in the spring.
The exhibit runs through the end of May. For more information
contact the museum at 252-249-1870 or museum@dockline.net.
The museum is located at 802 Broad Street in Oriental. Hours are:
Friday 11-3, Saturday 1-4, Sunday 1-4. Admission is always free.

I'm going to try to go. Maybe a bunch of us can meet up.

Bruce

[TJ]

Thanks for the post.  I will have to go check it out, I was an E.T., (Electronics Technician), in the Coast Guard during the mid 60's when we were still using RDF, Loran A, and Loran C, and the Quartermasters still had to use the Sextant and Line of Sight to show they still could.  Will bring back some old memories of when I was on an Ice Breaker and a Search and Rescue Vessel.  tj

[BruceW]

Cool; maybe I'll meet you there, if you go to the lecture. I will hope the weather is good enough for a trip down by next weekend.

I never learned the sextant, just taking bearings, and plotting tactical solutions. I've wanted to see how that is done!

[TJ]

I'm going to try to make the lecture myself, I only live about 30 miles from Oriental, I keep my boat there.  I'll be on the lookout for you.  Ted

[Bob23]

You guys need to check out HenryC's course on celestial nav here at the site. Somewhere.

[capt_nemo]

Check out "Sail and boat related Articles" section for HenryC contributions.

capt_nemo

[BruceW]

I have seen those; my feeling is that once I see this lecture/demonstration etc of the actual equipment, I might follow along better next time I read them.

If I could go back in time, I'd tell Mrs. Rixman to teach navigation in our trig class at Central High. I did the math great, but it would have been so much more fun to have us all act out the actions of the navy, like described in Master and Commander series, etc.