Ocean Navigation Research Articles

Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC)

The Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses was founded in 1885 with the aim of organizing international conferences for the dissemination of knowledge related to navigation in the field of civil engineering. To date, 28 congresses have been held, now with a four-year interval; the 28th Congress was held in 1994 in Seville, Spain. PIANC has become a leading authority, particularly in the field of engineering. Several studies, for instance on the dimensions of ships and waterways and on signalling, have led to international standardization and PIANC congresses have often recommended further international studies of specific subjects. The congresses are each attended by approximately 900 participants from around 50 countries world-wide. They are state, municipal and harbour officials, consultants, scientists and academics at technical universities, contractors and many other participants from the navigation industry. There is a strong governmental influence in the organization, as the governments of about 40 countries support PIANC both financially and by the participation of senior civil servants. In the two sections of the congresses, inland navigation and ocean navigation, 10 subjects are discussed. PIANC has always followed recent developments such as trends in shipping, reception facilities for ferries, special arrangements for the handling of containers, oil, gas and of dangerous or environmentally noxious goods. Not only the technical aspects of navigation, such as canals, dams, ports and maritime structures, are discussed, but also economics, port management and port capacity and safety. Environmental aspects, for instance of maintenance dredging and the disposal of dredged materials, are important topics. PIANC has long been interested in coastal problems, as these affect ports. As many ports extend into the sea, PIANC has considered ocean engineering including artificial islands, maritime constructions, salvage and the removal of wrecks and navigation under arctic conditions. PIANC is also active in the field of sport and pleasure navigation. Since 1982 PIANC has organized international working groups to report on specific topics. At present there are about 35 active working groups and 23 reports have been published. Their members are from about 30 countries. They may convene several times each year or work by correspondence. The recommendations of the working groups represent recent advances and are widely distributed. For instance, the report Beneficial Uses of Dredging Material was presented for discussion to the London Dumping Convention. Membership of PIANC is open to organizations and individuals. In most countries a national section is the contact point for the members. The General-Secretariat is in Brussels, Belgium.

黒潮と日本人の遭遇史（第二部） 近世の和書と洋書にもとづく論考

After the national isolation policy was established in 1639, the building of large ships and ocean navigation were prohibited in Japan. Thus, it is difficult to find old books describing the Kuroshio. By searching and deciphering early books, however, I have found some historical descriptions and illustrations about the Kuroshio. By examining these records, coupled with records in the Western books, I have reached the following conclusion. The term originated from a local word Kurose River, used within inhabitants of the Izu Islands, which indicated a branch of the actual Kuroshio flowing over the Izu Ridge. About 1800 it became meaning the Kuroshio south of the Tokaido District, and became popular among Japanese people by the fashion of publishing maps, local geography, accounts of trips and novels. However, a view of fragmental currents at that period might interrupted the recognition of the Kuroshio as a long current. From the end of the 18th century to the mid 19th, the Western collected information about Japan's geography published by the Japanese and made surveys and analyses of the Kuroshio on the occasion of cruises to ask for establishment of commercial relationship with Japan. Before the Meiji Restoration (1868), the term had already turned to an international word, which meant the entire Kuroshio, by the international diffusion of information about the Kuroshio. However, the undersanding of the Kuroshio by the Japanese was not practical as shown in Kanrin Maru journals by them.

The Pulse of Time: Galileo Galilei, the Determination of Longitude, and the Pendulum Clock by Silvio A. Bedini

Book Reviews The Pulse of Time: Galileo Galilei, the Determination of Longitude, and the Pendulum Clock. BySilvio A.Bedini. Florence: Leo S.Olschki, 1991.Pp. xiv+ 132; illustrations, notes, appendixes, index. L 40,000.00 (paper). The opening of the world to oceanic navigation at the end of the 15th century was at once opportunity and challenge. From the start, it was apparent that access to distant lands was an avenue to wealth and power. Such access, however, called for important outlays of labor and capital and the development of new technologies. In particular, it was vital to learn how to locate oneself in the vastness of the empty sea without landmarks to guide. The problem was not in learning location north-south—that technique went back centuries. One simply read the altitude of the sun, took account of declination, and read off the latitude from tables. Half thejob done. Longitude (location east-west) was another matter. With the earth turning on its axis, celestial phenomena by themselves could not serve as a guide, for all points on a given parallel witnessed them in turn. The question was when: time was the key, for differences in time of perception could be converted into differences in distance (space). Given the importance of the longitude problem, it is not surprising that the rulers of that day wanted to promote inquiry. In fairy tales, they would have offered the hand of the princess in marriage; in real life, they offered prizes and honors important enough to draw to the task the best minds of the age. Yet I think the challenge alone would have been enough, for the longitude was a mystery of mythic proportions. Among those interested: Galileo Galilei. The Florentine scientist brought special credentials to the task. Aside from his extraordinary intelligence, he had been working in related areas of inquiry. For one instance, his experiments in telescopy suggested new possibilities of observable celestial events that could serve as temporal punctuation marks: the occultation, for example, of the now-visible moons ofJupiter. For another, his observation of the apparent isochronism of the circular pendulum opened the way to a new and better clock, one that might serve to establish the precise timing of celestial events or keep the time of a place of known longitude for comparison with time in situ. It is this story of Galileo’s venture into time and space that Silvio Bedini tells with the ease and erudition that comes from years of study and intimacy with the subject. It is a story that he tells matter-of-factly, Permission to reprint a review from this section may be obtained only from the reviewer. 670 TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 671 but one that reminds us again how much the world (and Italy in particular) lost by the Roman church’s suppression of free scientific inquiry. For Galileo came close to a solution, but his confinement under surveillance made it difficult for him to profit from the work of others and to pursue his speculations freely. Indeed, if there was any problem with his vision, it was an excessive optimism: the savant, especially in his later years, was ready to promise too much. “I have such a time-measurer,” he wrote the States General ofthe Netherlands in 1636, “that if four or six examples of this instrument were constructed and allowed to operate at the same time . . . they would show differences of only one second, not only from hour to hour but from day to day and month to month” (p. 20). If they were constructed. Galileo never got around to building one of his pendulum clocks. He was aware of the fine points that made all the difference between accurate and accurate enough: of the desirability, for example, of a pendulum making equal arcs; of the special difficulty of measuring time on shipboard; of the need, for temporal comparison of time at a place of known longitude and time in situ, of accurate predictions of the movement and positions of celestial bodies. And he had designed a good, workable machine with a dead-beat, semidetached escape­ ment of his invention. That it would have worked even...

Centralizing Navigational Technology in America: The U.S. Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments, 1830–1842

Centralizing Navigational Technology in America: The U.S. Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments, 1830—1842 STEVEN J. DICK Since the rise of modern nation-states in the Renaissance, the im­ provement of oceanic navigation has been a central concern to those nations plying the high seas. Driven by diverse interests from commerce to defense, navigation was and continues to be a highly visible enterprise in which each nation also has at stake its scientific and technological pride. National observatories from Paris and Greenwich to St. Peters­ burg and Tokyo were founded in large part to improve navigation while hydrographic (and later oceanographic) offices played a more direct role; observational instruments including the sextant, quadrant, and repeating circle were developed and refined in the service of navigation; the cherished ideal of a perfect marine timekeeper found practical fulfillment in the chronometer ofJohn Harrison and his successors; and modern radio and satellite navigational techniques have culminated in positional “fixes” to within a few meters for many purposes. Navigation inspired a large body of astronomical, meteorological, and magnetic observations, learned papers on its theory and practice, and nautical handbooks, almanacs, and periodicals to disseminate the latest informa­ tion to navigators. Worldwide, the scientific and technological effort expended toward the end of safely voyaging the earth’s seas has been impressive and sustained and forms an important chapter in the history of science and technology. One part of the history of navigation that has not received adequate attention is the rise of navigational technology in the United States, Dr. Dick is an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Plurality ofWorlds (1982) and is currently at work on a history of the Naval Observatory and of the 20th-century extraterrestrial life debate. He wishes to express his appreciation to the many archivists and librarians consulted during this research, including those at the Navy Historical Center in Washington, D.C., the Military Records Branch of the National Archives, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and particularly to Brenda G. Corbin and Gregory Shelton, librarians at the U.S. Naval Observatory.© 1992 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X792/3303-0003$01.00 467 468 StevenJ. Dick both in its merchant marine and in the U.S. Navy. As a step toward filling that gap, this article addresses the first attempt at centralization of navigational technology in the U.S. Navy by the founding of its Depot of Charts and Instruments in 1830. This centralization process is of interest for many reasons. In a global sense, it may be seen as a case study of activities carried out in similar institutions of many maritime nations.1 In the American context, the depot not only reveals the state of navigational technology in the early 19th century, especially the rise of the chronometer; it is also one indication of a rising scientific spirit in America in the years just prior to “the launching of modern American science.”2 In an age characterized in the United States by a lack of coherent government policy in science—the decade prior to the founding of the Naval Observatory, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science—the navy’s Depot of Charts and Instru­ ments demonstrates how the impetus for centralization and quality control of a nascent technology essential to national interests came not from above but from below, from internal navy concerns recognized by officers of relatively low rank. Although the origin of the depot in 1830 was a technology-driven event, its history reveals the important effects of individual initiative, social and political environment, and European models in institutions, instruments, and methods. Born in an era before specialization, the depot was the original ancestor of several much larger enterprises: the U.S. Naval Observatory, the Hydrographic Office, the Naval Oceanographic Office, and the Defense Mapping Agency. It also contained in embryonic form many of the problems that would preoccupy 19th-century science in America. Finally, the activities at the depot are a direct prelude to the well-known work of Matthew Fontaine Maury, often...

Grandeur et décadence des marins bijogo

C. Henry — Rise and F ail of Bijagos Sailors. According to all historical sources, the Bijagos were sailors and warriors who practised ocean navigation when they went to attack coastal populations. Their war navy reached its zenith during the slave trade, then fell off as warring activities were repressed and European trade intensified in the area around the archipelago, the last bulwark withstanding Portuguese colonization in what is now called Guinea-Bissao. The inhabitants, proud of their independence, ne ver used their knowl-edge of the sea to serve on European ships. Not much interested in commercial fishing because they have stayed true to traditional ways of life, which assign preeminence to elders and entail sharing catches, the Bijagos have forgotten most of their sea lore and techniques. Having become rice farmers but remaining itinerant, they now use Niominka canoes, which they seldom own or pilot, to transport people and merchandise. This population, who proved capable of adapting new techniques, now depends on another people for navigation.

Reviews of Recent Books

NAVIGATIONVolume 32, Issue 3 p. 300-304 Reviews of Recent Books First published: Fall 1985 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-4296.1985.tb00911.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: INTRODUCTORY NAVIGATION: AN OCEAN NAVIGATION EXERCISE: BERMUDA TO THE AZORES Thomas M. Stout ADVANCE PLANNING PAYS OFF: CELESTIAL NAVIGATION PLANNING Leonard Gray HISTORICAL: THE VOYAGE OF GEORGE VANCOUVER 1791–1795, 4 Volumes Edited by W. Kaye Lamb Volume32, Issue3Fall 1985Pages 300-304 RelatedInformation

Post-award interest under the New York Convention: The Laurentian Forest

The New York Convention does not provide expressly for interest running between the date of the award and the date of judgment by the competent authority where enforcement is sought. Considerable delay can ensue between these dates. Post-award interest calculated at a commercial rate can amount to a significant sum. How does the successful claimant protect himself against this additional loss until judgment in the enforcement proceedings? The problem is illustrated by a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in Waterside Ocean Navigation Inc v. International Navigation Ltd (The ‘Laurentian Forest’).1 In that case, the claimant was seeking to enforce five English arbitration awards in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. None of these awards contained any order by the English maritime arbitrators regarding post-award interest, although the arbitrators had awarded to the claimant pre-award simple interest under...

Waterside Ocean Navigation Co. v. International Navigation Ltd.

Waterside Ocean Navigation Co. v. International Navigation Ltd.

The Requirement for Oceanic Navigation in the Air

If an operational requirement for an oceanic application of global civil satellite navigational systems is to emerge it is almost certain to appear first in the North Atlantic airspace. Other areas of application, their time-scales or relative time-scales and their possible accuracy requirements are more difficult to anticipate. Perhaps the Central East Pacific routes or the North Pacific routes could be next in line for justification of an operational requirement in the foreseeable future. For this reason the remainder of this paper draws entirely upon the North Atlantic, but the potential application in other areas cannot be overlooked. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Civil Aviation Authority.

John Churchman and the Longitude Problem

In the early days of ocean navigation the problem of finding longitude, apart from the crude methods of dead reckoning, commanded considerable attention until practical solutions were found at mid-eighteenth century. In the initial phase of Atlantic voyaging it was realized that variation changes with longitude. This led to the suggestion that the crucial problem of east-west navigation might be solved from variation observations. Under an Act of Parliament (12 Anne, cap.xv) of 1714, which provided for a handsome monetary prize for the ‘discovery of the longitude’, a committee known as the Board of Longitude was formed. The Board continued, until its dissolution in 1828, to examine proposals for improving navigation after the principal problem had been solved. The 1714 Act led to numerous proposals from cranks and crackpots as well as men of science, and many of these proposals concerned ‘longitude by variation’. John Churchman, a land-surveyor and citizen of Philadelphia, communicated with the Board of Longitude on his scheme for finding longitude by variation for seventeen years from 1787 to 1804. During this time he persisted, with unshaken faith, that he had solved the problem. This paper deals with Churchman's proposals with special reference to his correspondence with the Board of Longitude.

A New Navigation Computer

Through the mediacy of Professor Torao Mozai and the courtesy of Captain T. Iimura of Omron Tateisi Electronics, Tokyo, I was lent a prototype Omron lop NC Astro-navigation computer to evaluate during the course of a singlehanded race in Jester from Newport, Rhode Island, to Bermuda and the subsequent voyage back to England. Although it has been developed as an all-purpose navigation computer, the particular requirements of single-handed oceanic navigation might, it was thought, provide a useful commentary on this kind of instrument; and the environment of a small boat, so close to the sea surface and inevitably inimical to electronic equipment, would be an austere test of the instrument's seaworthiness.This note is intended for navigators and so far as possible computer terms will be avoided. (The instrument is named a computer by its makers and will be referred to as such, rather than as a calculator, throughout.) The computer weighs 2·5 kg. and measures 200 × 289 × 91 mm. It operates from either the mains or batteries, and can be used for 10 hours continuously without a battery recharge.

The influence of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich upon the design of 17th and 18th century angle-measuring instruments at sea

When Charles II founded his Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park in 1675, position finding at sea was not much advanced on the techniques of 200 years earlier when the Portuguese began the art of ocean navigation. It was possible to find a ship's latitude reasonably easily to within 20 or 30 minutes but the business of finding longitude still seemed an insoluble problem. The answer was thought to lie in the lunar-distance method put forward by Werner in 1514, but for this method to be successful, not only was it necessary for the Moon's position to be predicted to within 1 minute of arc several years in advance, but also the fixed stars upon which the method depended had to be observed to a like accuracy. Greenwich Observatory was established with the object of finding a solution to the longitude problem, but of necessity Flamsteed concentrated his early efforts on the accurate observation and plotting of star positions. The alternative means of solving the longitude question was the meckanick's answer, a clock that would keep time under seagoing conditions and temperatures. In this way a Standard Time could be carried about with which to compare the ship's local time — the difference in time being the longitude. It is not generally realized that neither of these methods could be of much use to a seaman unless he were equipped with a sufficiently accurate instrument with which to observe the exacting measurements required. The Lunar-distance method required distances between the Moon and Sun or a star to be observed, as well as the altitudes of the bodies concerned, before the computation could begin. The chronometer method needed an accurate instrument for an altitude sight to determine local time to be taken when the Sun was moving at its most rapid rate near the Prime Vertical. No instrument of this capacity existed when the Greenwich Observatory was founded in 1675, for British seamen were still using the backstaff, invented by Captain John Davis about 1594, and the cross staff, first used at sea about 1510. Neither of these instruments was capable of consistently measuring a celestial angle to an accuracy of ± 10 minutes of arc due to inherent defects in their design, though their scales were graduated to 90° with a theoretical accuracy of 1 minute of arc.

Marine Geodesy — Precise Ocean Surveys

Various current and future problem areas of the ocean related to precise positioning are identified and described. These problem areas are highly diversified and include mapping the ocean floor, ocean depth determination, positioning and navigation of a submersible even under iced seas, boundary demarcation in deep ocean, tsunamis, ecology, etc. An estimate of desired positional accuracies, based upon the writer's consultations with the users and published literature, is given. A conceptual solution to achieve the desired positional accuracies has been given, which requires a hybrid system comprising of space, EDM, and acoustic instrumentation.

Survey technique for high-resolution ocean navigation

We have reported on an acoustic Doppler navigation system for ocean use in several publications [R. P. Porter, R. C. Spindel, and R. J. Jaffee, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 53, 1691–1699 (1973); R. C. Spindel, R. P. Porter, and R. J. Jaffee, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 56, 440–446 (1974)]. The system can yield navigation fixes with respect to a bottom-moored, continuous-wave, beacon net with accuracies (on a fix-to-fix basis) of a few centimeters. The system has found use in generating synthetic space-time acoustic apertures where it is necessary to track a receiver to within a fraction of an acoustic wavelength. In order to use the system to best advantage, a survey is required to determine precisely the relative positions of the beacons forming the net. We report here on a navigation system that combines a pulse transponder with a beacon to improve survey accuracy. It measures acoustic travel time between survey platform and mooring, as well as accumulated phase between survey points. Nonlinear regression techniques are employed to develop a maximum-likelihood estimator for mooring positions. An approximate covariance matrix of the estimate errors is generated, and an optimum choice of survey points is indicated. The combined system, using these selected locations for performing the survey, yields mooring coordinate errors of about ±1 m. Improved precision appears to be limited by inaccuracies in the pulse and Doppler measuring systems.

The Use of Pulsed Doppler Sonar for Navigation of Manned Deep Submergence Vehicles

This paper describes the doppler sonar navigation system recently developed for deep submergence vehicles and other similar advanced doppler systems currently employed for a variety of ocean navigation purposes. A discussion of the doppler principle and its utilization in pulsed rather than CW operation is presented. The pulsed techniques have substantially increased the altitude above bottom capabilities for navigation with respect to the ocean floor. For altitudes above 600 feet, accurate navigation is obtained by utilizing volume reverberation from the water mass beyond the boundary layer of the vehicle. The doppler navigator developed for deep submergence accurately determines instantaneous velocities in each of the three vehicle coordinate axes. This information plus heading and attitude information from a precision inertial platform is utilized in the general purpose computer to form a self contained navigation system. In other applications, the heading reference may be obtained from a gyro compass while an inclinometer provides attitude information which again is processed with the doppler velocities providing a complete navigation capability. Other advanced systems currently in operation on surface ships utilize satellite derived position fixes for continually updating and correcting the doppler determined velocity and position information. Operational experience and test data obtained during development testing of doppler navigation systems is presented and discussed.

Improving Navigational Systems Through Establishment of a Marine Geodetic Range

POSITIONS OR DIRECTIONS in or on the deep oceans often cannot be determined with sufficient accuracy using ocean navigation systems now available. Present limitations on accuracy arise, in part, because of the lack of reliable marine reference systems, including permanent marine control points. Control points are needed of the type that permit such a high degree of accuracy in land positioning. The accuracy and reliability of marine navigation systems could be improved if variations from some known standard could be determined. This paper discusses a standard system that could be established, viz., a marine geodetic calibration range. Positional fixes made with present systems are sometimes a mile or more in error. These systems could be evaluated, calibrated, and compared using the suggested marine geodetic range as a standard. The systems could be adjusted to minimize errors, thereby improving their accuracy and reliability. In one possible form, a geodetically constructed calibration range could extend parallel to a portion of the U. S. continental shelf and seaward to about 1500 miles from shore. The range, based on a bottom-referenced system tied to the U. S. land geodetic network, might consist of a network of lines or grids formed, for example, by three to six permanent, and three temporary, ocean-bottom control points. In one configuration, identification of stations would be by acoustic signals tramsmitted by a set of three transponders on the sea bottom. Position on the ocean surface relative to the bottom transponders would be determined by solving a three-dimensional intersection problem, as is done in land geodesy. The most important measurements would be the line distances between the control points. It would be possible to measure these distances using aircraft line-crossing or satellite techniques. The final coordinates of the control points on the sea bottom could be determined (by applying geodetic adjustment procedures) only after distance measuremens were completed. The relative accuracy of the proposed calibration range would be equivalent to 1:200,000, or about ±50 feet along a 1500-mile calibration line.

Surface Controlled Deep Ocean Navigation Techniques for Precise Bottom Site Determination and Relocation

Surface Controlled Deep Ocean Navigation Techniques for Precise Bottom Site Determination and Relocation

Transport Competition in Australian Border Areas: The Example of Southern New South Wales

T . nHE railway systems of Australia, which are predominantly Government-owned, record an annual deficit in the vicinity of ?A25 million.1 Interest charges on the formidable capital debt account for a large proportion of this amount, but part of the loss must be attributed to competition from interstate road transport which, since 1954, has operated freely throughout Australia. On November 17, 1954, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London declared State legislation regulating interstate road transport invalid.2 The Privy Council held that such legislation was contrary to Section 92 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, which states that . . . trade, commerce, and intercourse among States, whether by means of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely free. I In all 1 This figure was obtained from the 1959-1960 Annual Reports of the various State railway systems; the Commonwealth railways reported a net surplus of almost ?A500,000 for 1959-1960 (Report on Comnmonwealth Railway Operations for the Year 1959-60 [Canberra: Government Printer, 19601, p. 5). 2 Report of the [New South Wales N.S.W.) Commissioner for Motor Transport for the Year Ended 30th June, 1955 (Sydney: Government Printer, 1955), pp. 16-17. [South AuLstralianii Transport Conitrol Board, Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to 30th June, 1955 (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1955), p. 6. States, both intraand interstate road transport had been subject to rather severe restrictions since the early 1930's, and the general policy was to regulate road transport in competition with railways for distances greater than 50 miles. Naturally, interstate road transport expanded rapidly after the relaxation of these regulations,4 and in Australia today there are two forms of interstate road transport competing vigorously with the State railway systems. Perhaps the more important of the two is intercapital city transport, particularly between Sydney and Melbourne, but also between these two cities and Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.5 For example, in 1956 it was estimated that an annual total of 800,000 tons of goods were moving between Sydney and Melbourne by road transport;6 during the financial

TWO MIRRORS: THE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF THE SEXTANT

In its own inexorable way the restless sea decides what it will permit man to do and what it will deny him. The instruments that navigators would use it examines and approves or rejects. It said No to astrolabes, common quadrants, and pendulum clocks. It required that compasses and chronometers be mounted in gimbals. For centuries it challenged man to tell precisely where he was when out of sight of land. Though it accepted teh cross-saff, the back-staff, and the mariner's bow, it probalby did so ironically, for all three were not particularly efficient or adaptable for accurate ocean navigation.

Ocean Navigation in Small Craft

The plan. During the spring and summer of 1950 three small British yachts sailed 15,000 miles in the open Atlantic, the object being to compete in the Bermuda race and then to race back across the Atlantic to Plymouth. Two of the craft, Cohoe and Samuel Pepys, were of under 5 tons displacement and the third, Mokoia, was very little bigger.