Abstract
INTRODUCTION “AUGUST 31 NW NW NW Light breezes & Pleasant; Middle strong & Squally at 1 AM hove ship to for Daylight at 6 AM made South Farallow NE 2 degrees E 6 miles, at 7 took a Pilot, at 11 hour 30 miles came to anchor in five fathoms water off North beach San Francisco Harbor.” This log entry marks the end of a recordbreaking voyage of 89 days and some 15,000 miles. The year is 1851, and the ship is the famous clipper “Flying Cloud”, sailing from New York to San Francisco under the command of Josiah P. Cressey. It is a navigational feat as well; Captain Cressey must have had extraordinary trust in the “navigation system” of his day to run that close up to South Farallon Island at night, and to heave to at the precise moment. Today’s technological trend toward more and more sophisticated navigation systems relegates the navigation used by the Flying Cloud’s skipper to second place. In fact, there are serious proposals to use satellites in the navigation of small pleasure craft in coastal waters-obviously without questioning the need for such a requirement.
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