Product Description

Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings is for people who like to work with their hands and who appreciate traditional nautical craftsmanship. You don't have to be the master of any craft to undertake any of these projects--from a simple kamal or latitude hook to the more complex pelorus or octant--just a careful and enthusiastic worker.

These 18 projects fall roughly into three categories: decorative, useful, and somewhere in between. Some, such as the astrolabe, are mainly for display. On the other hand, the sounding line is an important and practical tool for small-craft navigation, particularly in the absence of an electronic sounder. The cross-staff falls somewhere in between, equally at home in the den or the ditch kit.

Each of the devices discussed here--with simple, proven building instructions complemented by clear illustrations--has at one time or another been used for the practical business of navigation, and each is worth reviving for its beauty, historic value, or sheer usefulness.

Dennis Fisher has designed these projects with an emphasis on simplicity and reasonable cost. Everything can be scratch-built using easily obtainable materials and tools, and each is true to the spirit and function of the original instrument.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118878 in Books
• Published on: 1994-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
``This is a nifty book that will appeal to a wide variety of yacht owners.#.#.For those who like simple solutions to complex situations and those who like to create their own devices, this book with its straightforward diagrams and comprehensive information would make a delightful gift.'' (Coastal Cruising )

``.#.#.for people who like to work with their hands and appreciate traditional nautical craftsmanship.#.#.Each project emphasizes simplicity and reasonable cost and is true to the spirit and fucntion of the original instrument.'' (Nautical Collector )

From the Back Cover

Navigation is the story of the evolution of tools, of practical people making the best use of the materials and means at hand. As each generation of mariners sought to answer the question, "Where am I?", the instruments in this book were invented, rediscovered, and redesigned in a diversity that defies the imagination.

Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings is for people who like to work with their hands and who appreciate traditional nautical craftsmanship. You don't have to be the master of any craft to undertake any of these projects--from a simple kamal or latitude hook to the more-complex pelorus or octant--just a careful and enthusiastic worker.

The 18 projects fall roughly into three categories: decorative, useful, and somewhere in between. Some, such as the astrolabe, are mainly for display. On the other hand, the sounding line is an important and practical tool for small-craft navigation, particularly in the absence of an electronic sounder. The cross-staff falls somewhere in between, equally at home in the den or the ditch kit.

Each of the devices discussed here--with simple, proven building instructions complemented by clear illustrations--has at one time or another been used for the practical business of navigation, and each is worth reviving for its beauty, historic value, or sheer usefulness.

Dennis Fisher has designed these objects with an emphasis on simplicity and reasonable cost. Everything can be scratch-built using easily obtainable materials and tools, and each is true to the spirit and function of the original instrument.

Navigate a boat using the same tools as the Polynesian islanders, the Arab monsoon traders, or Christopher Columbus.

• Latitude Hook
• Kamal
• Astrolabe
• Quadrant
• Astronomical Ring
• Sundial
• Nocturnal
• Cross-Staff
• Backstaff
• Dry-Card Compass
• Traverse Board
• Hand Lead
• Heaving Line
• Chip Log
• Weatherglass
• Pelorus
• Sun Compass
• Octant

About the Author
New Hampshire native Dennis Fisher has built and used all the instruments in this book, some during a recent cruise from New England to Bermuda and the Virgin Islands. A graduate of Maine's Colby College who has written about navigation for New England Coastal News, he runs a printing business when not at his workbench building traditional navigational instruments.

Customer Reviews

Simplified, easy to make instruments
The instruments shown in this book can be made easily by almost anyone. In general, the instruments as described are not really good enough to use for the primary means of navigation - however that is not the intention of the book. It does what it sets out to do very competently, and that is to review some of the ancient navigation instruments and enable anyone to make simple functional replicas of them. Most of the designs can be worked up with additional data from other sources into primary navigation instruments.

In the main, the designs are correct, if somewhat sparse on calculation detail. However, there appears to be an error in the Nocturnal (Chapter 8) where the angles for the Great Bear and Little Bear have been incorrectly rotated 54 degrees clockwise relative to the hour scale. I have attempted to notify the publishers of this error - whether any notice has been taken, I do not know.

Barring the error in the nocurnal, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be making a few of the instruments shown in the next few weeks.