"Shanty Man"
That was a fun tune that captures the essence of the evolution of sailing. My mind is even boggled by the evolution since I first started. Back then we piloted by triangulating back sights off of light houses and prominent chimneys or church steeples on charts. And 30 miles from shore sextants and plotting positions at Noon became necessary, which I never learned.
I remember when an electronic system called "Loran" first came out based on radio signals from a few land based signal towers around the world. It was more precise than sextants, but wasn't useable everywhere... like in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I was new at sailing and I asked a knowledgeable guy about Loran. But he informed me that only the Navy could afford it, as the price in 1970 was $30,000 (six times the price of my boat). Eventually the price became more affordable for recreational boaters, but in 10 years the whole system was replaced by GPS with electronic charts that replaced the old rolled up paper were available to everyone who owned a rowboat.
My cousin was a navigator on a Navy aircraft carrier in 1960. He is the only person I've ever met who knew how to use a sextant. and that's all they had back then. He's dead now. Modern GPS for boating amazes me even today. Electronic charts are very precise, and include information on tides and currents... when they change and how fast the current will be on any given hour of any given day. I think they can even tell you how soon the sun sets.
Vast Yee Mateys.
