Matt,

That is an interesting question. I know, I asked it 40 years ago. At
that time I was told that lake ships used celestial out on the big
lakes. Years later - due to a lack of work on the coast - I came out
here to run ore boats.

When I asked about when they do sights, the entire deck crew looked at
me very strangely, and one finally laughed. I turned out that one was
the only one that had any idea what I was talking about.

I have pulled down stars since I have been here, and attitude correction
is not required to get reasonable accuracy. The references that I have
about overland celestial (prior to loran and GPS) do not make any point
of altitude. Lake Superior being just over 600 feet really would not be
an issue compared to Lewis and Clark locating rivers nad mountains in
the wilderness.

I do hope that this is actually an answer to what you are asking.

By-the-by, do not put a real @ddress on the usenet. The spambots will
plague you forever.

Matt Colie A.Sloop "Bonne Ide'e" S2-7.9 #1
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor


Matt Ashbrook wrote:
Just wondering...on the oceans, navigators use a sextant for out of sight of
land navigation. How is it done on the Great Lakes where they're not
operating at sea level? Of course, I'm talking about the absenceof
electronics. Anyone know of any literature on this?

Thanks,
Matt A.