Marine

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

is the art and science of steering a

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

from a starting point (sailing) to a destination, efficiently and responsibly. It is an

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

because of the

skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gen ...

that the navigator must have to avoid the dangers of navigation, and it is a

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

because it is based on physical,

mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

, cartographic,

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

, and other knowledge. Marine navigation can be surface or

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

Etymology

Navigation (from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''navigatio'') is the act of sailing or voyaging. Nautical (from Latin ''nautĭca'', and this from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

ναυτική �έχνη''nautikḗ éjne' " rt ofsailing" and from ναύτης ''nautes'' "sailor") is that pertaining to navigation and the science and art of sailing. Naval (from the Latin adjective ''navalis'') is that relating to ships and navigation, or particularly to the

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. In

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, the ''navicularii'' conducted long-distance trade by sea.

History

Coastal navigation Marine navigation is the art and science of steering a ship from a starting point (sailing) to a destination, efficiently and responsibly. It is an art because of the skill that the navigator must have to avoid the dangers of navigation, and it ...

was practiced since the most ancient times. The biblical account of the great flood, where the Noah's Ark appears, is based both on myths and on the navigational practice of the Mesopotamian civilizations, who from the

Sumerians Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam ...

onwards navigated their two rivers (

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

and

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

) and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. The

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ians did not limit themselves to

inland navigation Inland navigation, inland barge transport or inland waterway transport (IWT) is a transport system allowing ships and barges to use inland waterways (such as canals, rivers and lakes). These waterways have inland ports, marinas, quays, and wharfs ...

of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

either, and used the

Mediterranean sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

routes existing since the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

— through which cultural phenomena such as

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

ism or the

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

would have spread for millennia. The

Cretans Crete ( ; , Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete is loc ...

even established a true ''

thalassocracy A thalassocracy or thalattocracy, sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples o ...

'' (government of the seas, attributed to King

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

) until the

Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainla ...

(2nd millennium BC), when the events mythologized in the

Homeric poems Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his authorship, Homer is ...

More than a thousand "concave ships" arriving on the beaches of Troy, bad fortune of the navigator Ulysses and the expertise of the "

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

" — among whom is the builder of the ship that bears his name, Argus ought to be placed.The

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

, led by King

Šuppiluliuma II Šuppiluliuma II (), the son of Tudḫaliya IV, was the last certain great king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of the Middle Assyrian Empire. His reign began around 1207 BC (short chronology) and en ...

faced the

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

in the first historically recorded

naval battle Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be broadly d ...

(ca. 1210 BC); at the same time, all the civilizations of the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

suffered from the incursions of the denominated "

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

". The

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns — whom the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

considered their masters in navigation and who are also cited in the Bible —Ships from Tyre supplied King

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

with goods from distant places, including ''Tarshish'' —

Tartessos Tartessos () is, as defined by archaeological discoveries, a historical civilization settled in the southern Iberian Peninsula characterized by its mixture of local Prehistoric Iberia, Paleohispanic and Phoenician traits. It had a writing syste ...

— to the same destination a Phoenician ship was carrying

Jonah Jonah the son of Amittai or Jonas ( , ) is a Jewish prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE according to the Hebrew Bible. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor proph ...

, until the crew threw him into the sea when they blamed him for the storm that threatened to sink them. would have been the first Mediterranean civilization to sail the high seas by

sculling Sculling is the use of oars to propel a boat by moving them through the water on both sides of the craft, or moving one oar over the stern. A long, narrow boat with sliding seats, rigged with two oars per rower may be referred to as a scull, its ...

and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

, guided by the sun during the day and by the

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude t ...

at night. It is recorded that, crossing the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

— the "Rock of Gibraltar", the so-called "

Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules are the promontory, promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of ...

" in the Greek myths — they sailed across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

reaching the south to some point on the west coast of Africa and the north to the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

(or even beyond, to the place that the texts call

Thule Thule ( ; also spelled as ''Thylē'') is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, i ...

), but it is unclear if they circumnavigated Africa or crossed the Atlantic reaching America, something most likely achieved by the Norsemen in the 10th century. Predynastic_boat_vase_opt451x456_Edgerton-1927_AJSLp121-c

Predynastic_boat_vase_opt451x456_Edgerton-1927_AJSLp121-c

Exekias_Dionysos_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2044_n2

File:Musée de l'Arles antique, Arles, France (16006774188).jpg, Remains of a 1st-century Gallo-Roman ship archaeologically named '' Arles Rhône 3''. File:Dictionary of Roman Coins.1889 P381S0 illus385.gif, Roman ship depicted on a coin. File:Phoenician ship.jpg, Relief of a 2nd-century sarcophagus representing a "gauloi", a trading ship. File:Bait Al Baranda Museum-Naval battle.JPG, Model depicting a naval confrontation between a Roman ship and Omani ships in the Indian Ocean, 2nd century. In the Indian and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

oceans, the oceanic navigations made it possible to populate all the archipelagoes (

Polynesian navigation Polynesian navigation or Polynesian wayfinding was used for thousands of years to enable long voyages across thousands of kilometres of the Pelagic zone, open Pacific Ocean. Polynesians made contact with nearly every island within the vast Poly ...

). However, the possibility of reaching South America is still a matter of debate — the

settlement of the Americas It is believed that the peopling of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers (Paleo-Indians) entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and w ...

through the

Bering Strait The Bering Strait ( , ; ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia–United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' ...

would not have required navigation, or in any case, coastal navigation would have sufficed — as well as other possible pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts. In the first quarter of the 15th century, the Chinese expeditions led by

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

reached the African coasts of the Indian Ocean. It has been proposed that they might have reached the South Atlantic and even America and Europe, but this proposal has not been accepted beyond mere speculation.Mediterranean navigation, which the Romans had come to control (undisputed ''

Mare Nostrum In the Roman Empire, () was a term that referred to the Mediterranean Sea. Meaning "Our Sea" in Latin, it denoted the body of water in the context of borders and policy; Ancient Rome, Rome remains the only state in history to have controlled th ...

'' since their victories over the Carthaginians in the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and ...

64-146 BC the Egyptians during the

Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between Octavian's maritime fleet, led by Marcus Agrippa, and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former R ...

1 BC Year 1 BC was a common year starting on Friday or Common year starting on Saturday, Saturday in the Julian calendar (the sources differ; see Julian calendar#Leap year error, leap year error for further information) and a leap year starting on T ...

and

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

), was once again a contested environment in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, from the moment the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

managed to attack the Italian coasts from the sea. In the 6th century, the Byzantines managed to regain control, and in the 7th century it was the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

who ended up dividing the Mediterranean area, which even the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

and

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

were able to access. Since the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, Venetian, Genoese and

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

navigators also had a strong presence. Knowledge of the

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

, transmitted to the Europeans by the Arabs (who in turn had obtained it from the Chinese), together with other improvements in astronomical techniques (

astrolabe An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...

Jacob's staff The term Jacob's staff is used to refer to several things, also known as cross-staff, a ballastella, a fore-staff, a ballestilla, or a balestilha. In its most basic form, a Jacob's staff is a stick or pole with length markings; most staffs ar ...

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...

, cartographic techniques ( portulan and shipbuilding (

caravel The caravel (Portuguese language, Portuguese: , ) is a small sailing ship developed by the Portuguese that may be rigged with just lateen sails, or with a combination of lateen and Square rig, square sails. It was known for its agility and s ...

, nau,

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...

), made the

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...

— initially led by the Portuguese and

Castilians Castilians () are the inhabitants of the historical region of Castile in central Spain. However, the boundaries of the region are disputed. Not all people in the regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile or Crown of Castile think of themsel ...

— possible, especially after

Henry the Navigator Princy Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu ( Portuguese: ''Infante Dom Henrique''; 4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (), was a Portuguese prince and a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese ...

impulsed the school of Sagres. In 1492, the first voyage of Christopher Columbus took place. In 1488,

Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias ( – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the Cape Agulhas, southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lies ...

rounded the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

, which opened the route to the Indian Ocean — Vasco de Gama reached Calicut (India) in 1498. Between 1519 and 1521, the

Magellan-Elcano expedition The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the MagellanElcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish Empire, Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese Empire, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in th ...

circumnavigated the world — measuring the geographical longitude with the method of its scientific organizer, Rui Faleiro. Until the 6th century, the Spanish-Portuguese hegemony in navigation was patent in fields such as geography and

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

. Both English and French pilots learned to navigate from the texts of Pedro de Medina,

Martín Fernández de Enciso Martín Fernández de Enciso ( 1470 – 1528) was a Spanish lawyer, colonial official and geographer. He was instrumental in the colonization of the Isthmus of Darien, one of Spain's earliest attempts to occupy the mainland of the Americas. His ...

and Martín Cortés, among others.''Diccionario enciclopédico popular ilustrado Salvat'' (1906-1914) The conjunction of "cannons and sails" has been argued to have given European states the advantage to prevail over the rest, launching the modern " world system". File:The Four Voyages of Columbus 1492-1503 - Project Gutenberg etext 18571.jpg, Navigation of Columbus' four voyages to America, 1492–1504. File:Gama route 1.svg, Navigation of Vasco de Gama first voyage, 1498. File:Detail from a map of Ortelius - Magellan's ship Victoria.png, The ''Victoria'', ship of the

(1519-1521), in an illustration of a map by

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...

, 1590. File:Museo Marítim de Barcelona Real 17-05-2009 13-09-59.JPG, Model of the galley '' Real'', flagship of the Christian navy in the

Battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of t ...

(1571). File:Vroom Hendrick Cornelisz Battle of Haarlemmermeer.jpg, Dutch ''gueux de mer'' engage the Spanish at the

battle of Haarlemmermeer The Battle of Haarlemmermeer was a naval engagement fought on 26 May 1573, during the early stages of the Dutch War of Independence. It was fought on the waters of the Haarlemmermeer – a large lake which at the time was a prominent feature o ...

, 1573; painting by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, ca. 1621. File:Boazio-Sir Francis Drake in Santo Domingo.jpg,

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

's fleet in front of

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

in 1585. File:Routes of the Spanish Armada-es.svg, Navigation of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...

, 1588. File:The conquest of the great Northwest; being the story of the Adventurers of England known as The Hudson's Bay Company. New pages in the history of the Canadian Northwest and Western States (1908) (14778654772).jpg, Navigation of

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

in search of the

Northeast Passage The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP; , ) is the Arctic shipping routes, shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islan ...

, 1607–1608. File:Wasa, Seitenansicht.jpg, '' Vasa'', flagship of the Swedish navy, sunk on her maiden voyage, 1628. File:AMH-6135-NA View of Batavia.jpg, Dutch ships of the

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus * ...

(''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'', ''United East India Company'') in Batavia (today

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

), 1665.Since the 18th century, England exercised maritime hegemony, a fact that was confirmed in the early 19th century with the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

(1805). Among the main English expeditions of the time were

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

's (1768-1779), also the second expedition of the

Beagle The Beagle is a small breed of scent hound, similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle was developed primarily for hunting rabbit or hare, known as beagling. Possessing a great sense of smell and superior tracking inst ...

(1831-1836) — which was of great importance for the later development of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

's Evolution, theory of evolution. Already fully in the age of steam navigation, techniques and vessels continued to be perfected in transoceanic sailing (clipper), that did not become obsolete for commercial navigation until the 20th century — especially after the opening of the Panama Canal. Even then, the unbridled optimism that characterized the naval design of the time suffered a severe blow with the sinking of the Sinking of the Titanic, Titanic (1912). File:"Toma" de Cartagena por Vernon.jpg, Medal used by the British navy to celebrate Battle of Cartagena de Indias, the capture of Cartagena de Indias, that did not take place (1741). File:Endeavour, Thomas Luny 1768.jpg, ''HMS Endeavour, Endeavour'' (Captain Cook's ship) leaves Whitby harbor in 1768. File:Francesco Guardi - The Doge on the Bucentaur at San Niccolò del Lido - WGA10850.jpg, Venetian ships (including the ''Bucentaur'') at the feast of the Ascension, painting by Francesco Guardi, ca. 1775. File:Expédition de La Pérouse.jpg, Expedition of Jean-François de Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, La Perouse, 1785–1788. File:Slaveshipplan.jpg, Arrangement of a slave ship for the Slavery, slave trade in 1788. The triangular trade crossing the Atlantic between Europe, Africa and America constituted the most important shipping routes at the time. File:Descubiertaatrevida.jpg, The ''Descubierta'' and the ''Atrevida'' in the Philippine island of Samar, during the Malaspina expedition, 1789–1794. File:Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna 01.svg, Navigations of the Balmis Expedition, Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, 1803–1814. File:Turner, J. M. W. - The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken.jpg, ''The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up'', by J. M. W. Turner, 1838. File:London and the River Thames seen from the south, from Wellcome L0023697.jpg, Active navigation on the Thames in the mid-19th century, in an engraving by Frederick James Smyth. Tall-masted ships crowd downstream, while barges and steamboats with smoking smokestacks are allowed to cross London Bridge. File:Jack Spurling - ARIEL & TAEPING, China Tea Clippers Race.jpg, The "Ariel" and the "Taeping" contesting the ''Great Tea Race of 1866'', depicted in a painting by Jack Spurling. File:The destruction of Russian destroyers by Japanese destroyers at Port Arthur.jpg, Naval engagement between Russian and Japanese destroyers at Lüshunkou District, Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904. File:Aan de Zuidpool - p1913-164-1.jpg, Roald Amundsen, Amundsen expedition to the South Pole, 1913. File:Stöwer U-Boot Truppentransporter.jpg, Sinking of an enemy ship by a German "U-boat" in 1917. In addition to submarine warfare, Submarine, submersible vessels have had all sorts of uses, including mail, the oceanography or polar exploration. File:The Royal Navy during the Second World War- Operation Overlord (the Normandy Landings)- D-day 6 June 1944 A24096.jpg, The Operation Overlord (June 1944) was the largest naval operation in history, in a relatively small maritime environment (the English Channel). File:USS Flint (CL-97) at anchor in March 1945 (80-G-K-3813).jpg, The United States Fifth Fleet departs for Okinawa in March 1945, in the final stages of the War of the Pacific. Contemporary shipping has massively ceased to perform one of its traditional functions and has been replaced by aviation, such as Transport, passenger transport, although with two important exceptions: leisure travel (tourism by cruise ships) and irregular traffic of people (Illegal immigration, irregular immigration). Since the Second Industrial Revolution, the main volume of freight transport has been hydrocarbons (oil tankers and Gas carrier, gas tankers). Other raw materials are also transported in Bulk cargo, bulk on cargo ships, but from 1956 onward, a large part of goods of all kinds were adapted to standardized containers that speed up loading and unloading, allowing a combination with land transport (Transport hub, hub). Highly technological navigation has reduced crews and increased the size of ships. For example, in Fishing, deep-sea fishing, which locates its prey with sophisticated means and lasts indefinitely in time — freezer ships or factory ships — which in some circumstances has made them vulnerable to new forms of piracy. File:Calypso51-73.jpg, Routes of the ''RV Calypso, Calypso'', research ship of Jacques Cousteau, Commander Cousteau. File:Port Havre 2.jpg, Cargo vessel using the appropriate facilities for container traffic (container cranes) at the port of Le Havre. File:Cayuco approached by a spanish Salvamar vessel.jpg, Boat overloaded with illegal immigrants, alongside a Spanish coast guard.

Methods and techniques

These are the methods used in maritime navigation to solve the three problems of the navigator: * Determining and maintaining the "course". * Determining the "time", the "speed" and "distance", for the duration of the voyage. * Knowing the "depth" in which one is sailing so as not to run aground.

Coastal navigation

Navigation and location of the ship by positioning techniques based on the observation of Bearing (angle), bearings and distances to notable points on the coast (lighthouses, Cape (geography), capes, buoys, etc.) by visual means (Pelorus (instrument), pelorus), observation of horizontal angles (

) or electronic methods (bearings from radar to Radar beacon, racons, transponders, etc.)

Dead reckoning navigation

Navigation and location of the ship by analytical means, after considering the following elements: initial location, Bearing (angle), bearing(s) — whether Bearing (angle)#Absolute, absolute bearings, surface bearings, or Bearing (angle)#Relative, relative bearings. Also velocity as well as the external factors that have influenced the course either partially or entirely, such as the wind (leeway) and/or the Ocean current, current (bearing of the current and hourly current intensity). The point obtained from the calculations is called the "Dead reckoning location", with its corresponding latitude and longitude. This point is also known as Fantasy point.

Loxodromic navigation

Navigation that follows a rhumb line — that is, all meridians are cut at the same angle. On a nautical chart following the Mercator projection, a loxodromic is represented by a straight line. This type of navigation is useful for not too long distances, as it allows the course to remain steady, but it does not offer the shortest distance.

Orthodromic navigation

Navigation that follows the shortest distance between two points, i.e., that which follows a great circle. Such routes yield the shortest distance between two points on the globe. To calculate the bearing and distance between two points it is necessary to solve a Spherical trigonometry, spherical triangle whose vertices are the origin, the destination, and the pole.

Celestial navigation

Navigation and location of the ship by geopositioning techniques based on the observation of the stars and other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. The variables measured to find the location are: the observed angular height of the stars above the horizon, measured with the

(formerly with the

or other instrument), and the time, measured with the Clock, chronometer. Conceptually, the process is not complex to understand: * Knowing the time of the observation, and with the data contained in the nautical calendar, it is possible to determine the astronomical coordinates of the observed star. * Knowing the coordinates of the observed star and the height above the horizon with which it was observed, we can deduce that the observer's position is located on a circle whose center is located at the geographical point directly below the star. * Any observer located at any point on that circle will observe the star with the same height above the horizon. * The observer can therefore know that his position is somewhere on this circle. In practice, the mathematical process, called "reduction" of the observation, can be complex for the uninitiated. To the height observed with the sextant, it is necessary to apply a series of corrections to compensate for atmospheric refraction, parallax and other errors. Once this is done, it is necessary to solve a Spherical trigonometry, spherical triangle by mathematical and trigonometric methods. There are many methods to do this. The manual methods use tables (Trigonometry, trigonometric, logarithms, etc.) to facilitate the calculations. The introduction of calculators and Computer, electronic computers at the end of the 20th century greatly facilitated the calculation, but the creation of Global Positioning System, GPS made celestial navigation no longer important, relegating it to the background as an alternative method in case of failure of the on-board electronics or as a hobby of scientific interest.

Electronic navigation

Navigation and location of the ship by positioning techniques based on the aids provided by global positioning systems, such as Global Positioning System, GPS, GLONASS, or Galileo (satellite navigation), GALILEO. It is the system most widely spread and easiest to use, in spite of the errors that may arise.

Inertial navigation

Navigation and location of the ship by means of the analysis of the data provided by accelerometers and/or gyroscopes located on board, which integrate the accelerations experienced in complex electronic systems, that converted into velocities (in the 3 possible axes of displacement) and according to the observed courses, make it possible to obtain the location of the ship.

Iconography

The harbinger of a successful navigation was the dolphin, which is why its representation became the symbol carried by all ships. More recently, navigation was represented as a woman crowned with Stern, ship's sterns whose clothes are agitated by the winds. She rests one hand on a rudder and the other holds the instrument for measuring height. At her feet, the ampoule, the compass, the trident of Neptune and the riches of commerce, while the sea can be seen on the horizon, completed by a lighthouse and traversed by ships at full sail.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Ancient seafaring Navigation Ships Celestial navigation Sailors