Ship Handling & Navigation

Another piece of classics - this publication on navigation was released more than a hundred years ago. For so many years the content of the book helped the newcomers to the world of maritime navigation to obtain necessary knowledge and it was also used by the professional navigators to refresh and maintain their knowledge at the high level. The volume starts with the basic definitions used in navigation.

Then the author moves to the marine compass, correction of the ship's course and log line, explaining them in detail. In the next chapter the construction of the traverse table is described together with its correct use supplemented with the examples for better understanding. The next three chapters cover the methods that are used to fix the position of the vessel on the nautical chart, composite and great circle sailing, and construction of figures.

This was just the introduction. The material of the volume is arranged in twenty-eight chapters plus numerous examples, nautical almanac and answers to the above mentioned examples. You will find lots of useful information still useful and practical today for provision of safe navigation of your ship – literally everything is covered.

Even though there are so many good works on Navigation available today, the present publication has been serving as a textbook for several generations of mariners. This is a true classics and the contribution of this book to the provision of safety of marine navigation is great. The volume was published one century ago but the content is still interesting to the mariners of today due to the way the information is presented.

The book opens with the description of basic navigational instruments, mile and knot, and the mariner's compass together with some interesting facts on its construction and usage. The other navigational tools such as the sextant and marine chronometer have also been explained in detail making them easily to understand even to the newcomers to the magic world of navigation. The nautical charts have been dealt with including chart and map projections, Admiralty charts and all information normally conveyed by the charts.

The other sections of this publication address such important aspects as sounding machines, sounding logs, binoculars and telescope used at sea, ocean meteorology, time and position, summer lines and double altitudes, compass adjustment and so many others - the list is really impressive.

Here is one of the most popular books on celestial navigation which will be particularly appreciated by the yachtsmen. The content will provide you with the remarkably definitive guidance to the navigation including both theory and practice, and the information is presented in a very concise and clear way. In fact, this is a classic primer. The book may also be used as an excellent refresher for those who had studied celestial navigation in the past.

However, it can also be used as a stand-alone training resource since it provides full explanations of everything required. According to the numerous readers’ reviews from all around the world, this publication is a sort of model of clarity and simplicity. The use of the mathematics has been reduced to a minimum to make understanding of the material easier.

We all understand that the use of celestial navigation remains the basic lifesaving emergency skill even in today’s world of electronic navigation aids. That is why it is recommended to all navigators to possess such knowledge before they start sailing – you never know when the things can go wrong so why do not you get prepared to a worst case scenario and provide the safety of your vessel at all times.

One of the best practical textbooks on marine navigation designed specifically for the second mates. This world famous title has gained huge popularity and is deservedly treated as a best choice for those willing to improve their knowledge of marine navigation. The present edition of the publication features extended coverage of the tidal calculations and modern chart work. The main content of the volume is arranged in two section.

The first section consists of eight chapters covering the measurement of ship's position, distance and direction, considering the effect of wind and tide, position lines, tides, tidal streams, sailings, the traverse table and transferred position line, the celestial sphere, the nautical almanac, and compass error by the astro-observation.

The second section of the book is made of seven chapters dealing with the position circles, position lines, altitude correction, the Pole Star problem and Great Circle sailing, and many other important aspects. The publication has already been proven very effective for training due to the approach used by the author who presented the material in a very understandable way - numerous editions of the title have all been very well met by the people preparing for the relevant exams.

Another old-time classics. This is a world popular treatise written by one of the prominent navigation experts. The documents is full of useful information about the marine navigation and nautical astronomy and as such its content will be interesting to the navigators and students. Of course, taking into account that the original edition of the book was published bore than one century ago, it cannot reflect all technological advances that took place after that, such as the electronic navigation aids and so many others.

However, the fundamentals of navigation are explained in such a clear and understandable manner that we would still recommend the book even to the learners of today. Needless to say that it will also be an excellent exhibit in the collection of any navigator or person with the interest in maritime world.

The material of the book is divided into ten chapters covering plane sailing together with the Mercator's sailing and middle latitude sailing, course and Great Circle sailing, time and most important astronomical terminology, longitude and latitude, altitude correction, the Hour Angle and the Nautical Almanac. Most of the terms used have been provided with the explanation. Numerous examples are given for easier understanding.

The present publication continues the series commenced with several other releases, such as the original Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, and subsequently released titles addressing Maritime Transport and Shipping, STCW Maritime Education and Training, Miscellaneous Problems in Marine Navigation, Transport and Shipping, Navigation Problems, International Recent Issues About ECDIS, E-Navigation and Safety at Sea, Transport Systems and Processes, and Methods and Algorithms in Navigation.

The book will provide readers with the thorough research of the maritime shipping industry creating a sort of forum for the marine engineers and ship navigators, transportation researchers, scientists and all other persons with professional interest in maritime industry.

The author has covered all important technological, scientific, social and economic aspects of the industry, marine navigation and transportation, publishing truly innovative research on relevant subjects. The book is intended to put the maritime studies in a much broader comparative and international context and is aimed at the industry professionals to share the experience as well as technical knowledge and results of the researches in the field.

Well, this is maybe the oldest of the books that have been presented here. This eleventh edition of A Complete Epitome of Practical Navigation was released in 1835. Written by a professional teacher of marine navigation and nautical astronomy, it was used for decades for learning students and future mariners. The language of the text is beautiful, the explanations are very clear and understandable.

Even today, in a world of electronic navigation instruments, knowing the fundamentals of navigation and sailing is an important thing. Covering absolutely all important areas of marine navigation, this volume may be deservedly called on of the best and classic training sources in the history. Note that the theoretical part of the publication is supplemented with numerous tables.

According to the author, the navigation itself is a sort of the art instructing the mariners in what manner they should conduct their vessels through the ocean, getting from one part of the world to another, in a safest but fastest way. Have a look in the book and save a copy for yourself. This will be a good and useful title in your collection of navigation related books even if you sail on a modern and fully equipped ship.

The present volume is acting as an excellent and very valuable manual for the old time navigation methods using the stars and providing sailors and pilots with the means to determine their current location. Even taking into account the prevalence of the GPS taking place today, a really comprehensive collection of the formulae that can actually be used on the regular calculators in case of catastrophic system or software failures shall be considered a vital failsafe.

It will also serve as a link to the centuries of explorations. The volume opens with the fundamentals of the positional astronomy, moving to the complex mathematics required to get better understanding of the ephemerides and data tables demonstrating the future positions of the planets and stars. The declared goal of the author is two-fold - the first goal is to provide the readers with the concise manual applicable to the astronavigation and then to furnish the algorithms to find the actual position of the Sun and stars at any given time.

There are so many navigators that rely on the modern technology being vulnerable to various electrical issues, solar flares etc., and the information and knowledge provided by the author of this book will definitely be a sort of backup...