Thursday, 04 February 1999
As of 0800, the Empire State was located at 16 degrees and 33 minutes North latitude, 066 degrees and 12 minutes West longitude, steering a course of 315 degrees true, at a speed of 10.8 knots. The Island of Montserrat is 7.5 nautical miles to the north. The air temperature is 75 degrees F, with a forecast high of 78. Water temperature is 80 degrees. The skies are partly cloudy with occasional rain and east-northeast trade winds at 10 knots, sea state 2 (8 feet). Water depth is 5,868 feet. Barometric pressure is 1018 millibars and steady.
CAPTAIN'S LOG:
The story throughout the night continued to be the weather. Strong high pressure generated fresh trade winds and large swells. The trade winds are generated as equatorial air rises at the equator and travels aloft. The air cools and descends to the ocean surface at about 30 degrees North latitude and returns south easterly toward the equator as trade winds. These winds are persistent through out the Caribbean and, in the days of wooden ships and iron men, propelled sailing ships and their rich cargos from port to port, fueling the economic engine of the entire Caribbean region.
Today, trade winds retain a good deal of economic import. They produce some of the finest windsurfing in the world and moderate the tropical heat, making the area very attractive to beach loving tourists. We are neither merchants nor beach loving tourists and these winds are a detriment to our intended mission. Yesterday evening we experienced 22 degree rolls. A real E-Ticket ride!
We entered relatively calm waters early this morning in the lee of Montserrat. The island has recently experienced volcanic activity and we can actually see the lava-formed trenches streaming down the sides of Soufriere Hills Volcano. It is a beautiful sight from afar, but the State Department advises that people defer travel there.
Last night, the Bridge watch sections were about to complete their assignment: two days of nothing but old fashioned celestial navigation. Without reference to any modern equipment to determine the ship's position, using only a sextant and a watch, they were to navigate across 600 miles of trackless ocean, aiming for a tiny island in the Caribbean. No radar, no LORAN, no global positioning system (GPS), no radio direction finder. If they could do it correctly, that would be an accomplishment. As technology has advanced, the ease and the accuracy of navigation improves incredibly. Today's electronic navigation systems yield accuracies in the fifty meters range. That distance can be represented by the width of a pencil line on some of the charts we use.
Can we navigate without these new systems? Sure. Can we rely solely upon older methods? No. So, while we challenge the Cadets to navigate using only older methods, we carefully parallel their efforts with the newest technology. One might ask why we teach the old celestial navigation techniques at all if there are better systems available? First, celestial navigation requires no electricity to fix the ship's position. The navigator only needs an accurate timepiece, a sextant, and an almanac with the celestial positions of the sun and stars. Addition and subtraction are the only math skills necessary. Second, the process heightens awareness of each piece in the navigation puzzle. Cadets quickly learn that all aspects of the science of navigation, are important. Only by checking one piece of data against another; one estimate of position with a position obtained from a different method, will they avoid getting lost. Back home in Cape Cod, we all remember that the cruise ship Royal Majesty, equipped with all the modern navigational conveniences, still ran aground off the outer Cape. Celestial navigation, when properly done, yields surprisingly accurate positions and there is no denying the feeling of self satisfaction that accompanies the correct solution.
Now, back to my story: the cadets on the navigation team had predicted that they would see Isla Aves at sunset. Sure enough, at last light, dead ahead, it loomed over the horizon. They were less than 1/2 mile off. Not too shabby. My Congratulations to the team!