Navigation & Seamanship

This is quite a specific and rare publication. The Modern Navigation textbook was written by one of the prominent experts in the field of marine navigation, Commodore Hastings. The exigencies of the World War disclosed a demarcation line between the methods of marine navigation used in the merchant and navy fleets.

The commanders of the navy vessels used to apply the Sumner, or St. Hilaire methods; however, the captains of the merchant fleet ships preferred to use the time sights. The content of the present publication mainly deals with the Sumner and St. Hilaire methods and reflects the theoretical knowledge and great practical experience of the author which he wanted to transfer to the students of marine navigation. The book starts with the examples in latitude, time sight and dead reckoning.

Then, there are two big sections dealing with each of the above mentioned methods. The book will be useful to the people with the deep interest in underlying concepts and fundamentals of the marine navigation as it contains the information that is quite difficult to find in the similar publications. Have a look into this book and you will get to know something new and interesting about the real marine navigation.

For decades, the present publication has been widely used by the students and practicing ship navigators and is still considered one of the best classic textbook covering the essentials of marine navigation. According to the reviews provided by hundreds readers, the publication laid bare all the mysteries of the navigation with a sure touch. The approach to presenting the material used by the author made the content easily understandable even to the newcomers and people with no experience.

All important aspects are thoroughly covered. The readers will find all information in the pages of this volume, perfectly collected and presented. The author took into account absolutely all stumbling blocks and, in presenting the material, moved from the simple basics of navigation to the more complex problems with each of the steps explained in detail.

The book will be of great use to the people willing to refresh their theoretical knowledge of the basics of celestial navigation and also get to know some practical tips that have proven effective. We do recommend this publication to every person interested in the marine navigation, including both theoretical and practical aspects of it.

The main content of the present volume has been undertaken with several declared aims. First of all, the author intended to make the publication complete in itself and make it good to be used by the mariners navigating their vessels in the oceans without any other volumes readily available. It was very difficult to compile all information required to be possessed by the navigators in the one book; however, every effort was made to present the info in the max compact form.

From the other side, the author assumed that the readers of the book do have some minimum math and astronomical knowledge. Some of such knowledge will be require to duly understand the content of the book. The arrangement of the material in the volume is more or less standard for the navigation books; however, the approach used by the author differs.

The volume opens with the information on the essential navigation problem, followed with the info on dead reckoning with and without logarithms, the compass and coastal navigation. Then, the author proceeds to the Nautical Almanac, the sextant, different navigation methods. Several appendices supplement the main part of the document, providing some additional information that would definitely be appreciated by the navigators.

Flags remain in wide use on board every single vessel, regardless of the size and type, when at sea. Note that there is some difference between their use at sea and on land. The material contained in the present book mainly concentrates on the general use of the flag, i.e. the authors cover the flags that are hoisted on shore facility as well as those on the mast of the vessel. Some emphasis has been made on the yachts and relatively small vessels.

The main reason for that is that the conventional merchant fleet and navy vessels would normally be governed by their own regulations. So, this book will be of most practical use and interest for the crew of the smaller vessels, yachts and boats who will find ready, compact and informative reference. This second edition of the handbook has already been well met by the boaters and yachtsmen all around the world and accepted as the perfect reference tool and a must-have publication on board.

Numerous colorful illustrations make reading even more pleasant. You may wish to make a print copy ad keep it on board your ship, boat or yacht – due to the compact size it will be able to have the volume with you, readily available at all times, whenever you may need it.

Have a look into this second, completely revised edition of the Modern Chartwork publication. In preparing the contents of this edition, the author tried to make his work completely up-to-date with all recent advancements in the field of marine chartwork. Of course, this did not affect the theoretical part of the book since the essentials of the subjects have not changed at all – these would include the use of the nautical charts, for example.

There are several completely new chapters included in the volume and one of them is devoted to the worked practical examples as they will definitely be of great practical use to the trainees. As we know, the navigation itself is the art of bringing ship from one port to another across seas and oceans, if we are talking of maritime navigation.

The coastal navigation together with the pilotage is considered the integral parts of this art – they would deal with the safe ship navigation and handling during approaching to the port. This would of course require sound theoretical knowledge, due understanding and significant practical experience of all those involves in the navigation activities as any mistake can result in the tragic consequences.

Here is a learner’s guide intended to provide required theoretical knowledge to the Pacific Island seamen including engineers and masters. The material is arranged in seven big chapters. The first chapter is introductory and gives some general insight on the maneuvering and handling of the ship including essential maneuvering characteristics, external conditions, as well as anchoring, berthing and unberthing.

The second chapter deals with the emergency procedures including marine casualties, disabled ships, person overboard and other situations. The third chapter addresses marine regulatory framework including certification procedures and requirements, and protection of the marine environment. The fourth chapter covers the weather watchkeeping procedures, interpreting the weather reports, terminology etc.

The remaining sections of the volume deal with the watchkeeping, paying particular attention to the provision of ColRegs, ship construction including ship construction materials and design features, watertight integrity of the ship, ropework, and navigation including nautical charts, distances, bearing and ship’s course, tides and steering of the ship.

For so many years this handbook has been deservedly treated as maybe the simplest and for sure one of the most practical guidebooks for the sailors. We are offering you to have a look at this latest, significantly updated and revised edition of the world popular publication. The content of the present volume has been thoroughly reworked in order to reflect all technical developments in the field of marine navigation.

For example, the author has included valuable information about the electronic means of positioning and communication widely used on board any ship. In addition, such areas as the radio telephone communications have also been duly covered and provided with good explanations and descriptions of every appliance. The text is very thorough and easy-to-read, and it covers literally all topics related to the coastal piloting as well as the ocean navigation.

The information is presented in a step by step manner making understanding of the material much easier. The book will be simple to read even for the beginners – note, however, that the amount of the information covered will make it equally useful even for the most advanced and professional navigators including yachtsmen, mariners and all seamen.

The Guide presented to your attention today is among the very first all-embracing books on navigation written for the merchant fleet officers. The original release of the first edition took place quite a while ago, at the times where radars were not used at the mariners had to apply the sounding method in order to find the position of their vessels.

Many technological developments took place after that, and in general the crew members of the vessels become much more professional and efficient, and this fact allowed reducing the crews; the ships, in turn, have become much more powerful. There is a strong need for the knowledge and deep understanding of the navigation principles and techniques and of the correct sequence they should be applied in different conditions.

This latest tenth edition of the publication will feature extensive coverage of all important areas of the marine navigation and can therefore be recommended to both students in need for the good technical knowledge and for the professional navigators willing to refresh the essentials. The arrangement of the material in the book is exceptionally user-friendly being the reason why the volume was re-published so many times and become one of the most popular guides available today.