The Sextant Handbook by Bauer, Bruce;

Rövid leírás:

"The wealth of useful material is prodigious and by the time one has reached the back cover, the sextant is an old friend. Just as important, Cdr. Bauer deals comprehensively with maintenance and service, and his advice on how to select and assess a second-hand sextant is truly worthwhile. Refreshingly, he writes in a friendly manner--almost as though he is chatting to a group of students. A thoroughly enjoyable book."--Peter Milne, Technical Editor, Yachting World Magazine (England)

"If this book is a highly detailed technical manual, the reader is hardly aware, so plentiful are the diversions into related topics. It makes great reading and virtually everyone . . . regardless of one's skill level with a sextant . . . will find new things to learn about sextants, their history, their future and their best use."--Ocean Navigator

"The sextant and Commander Bauer's handbook should be standard equipment on every seagoing vessel. It is a book that should be provided with every sextant and class in navigating."--R. J. Holt, Director, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

"One recognizes here a centennial Lecky on the sextant. There is plenty of new material presented in a manner that would make a stranger want to meet Bruce Bauer and converse with him face to face."--Paul M. Anderton, Navigation Instructor

"Cdr. Bauer's book will become a standard reference on the sextant for professional and amateur navigators around the world. I have been doing celestial navigation since 1953 and have not, until now, been able to find so much information on the sextant collected in one place."--A. W. Fowler, Ocean Racing Navigator

"Bauer has succeeded in gathering a wealth of information from a multitude of sources and brought it all together into a fascinating book for the mariner. I recommend it to those who navigate the ocean's highways."--Warren P. Davis, Colonel, USA (Ret.), Sextant Authority

"Insecurity is sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean staring at an out-of-whack sextant and not knowing how to fix it. I know from experience. This book should be mandatory equipment on every boat that goes offshore."--Wayne Carpenter, Author, The Voyage of Kristina

Hosszú leírás:

Loran and GPS notwithstanding, there will always be a place for the sextant aboard any blue-water boat, if for no other reason than the thrill and mystery of finding one's position on earth by gazing at the heavens. Here is the indispensable reference that should accompany the instrument aboard. Cmdr. Bruce Bauer, a professional navigator and master mariner with the U.S. Merchant Marine, has distilled years of hands-on experience into an eminently readable guide to buying, adjusting, using, and repairing sextants.

The Sextant Handbook is dedicated to the premise that electronic navigation devices, while too convenient to disregard, are too vulnerable to rely on exclusively. The book is designed to make beginner and expert alike conversant with this most beautiful and functional of the navigator's tools. Topics include:

• Assembly and Disassembly
• Vital Adjustments
• Avoiding Problems
• Rough Weather Sightings
• Oiling and Cleaning
• Immersion Baths
• Emergency Silvering
• Finding and Buying Used Sextants
• And Much More

You'll also find a list of distributors, manufacturers, and dealers worldwide, a discussion of future trends, and numerous helpful hints, including sighting with eyeglasses and using a Rude starfinder. All in a thoroughly revised edition of a book acclaimed by navigation professionals.

Loran and GPS notwithstanding, there will always be a place for the sextant aboard any blue-water boat, if for no other reason than the thrill and mystery of finding one's position on earth by gazing at the heavens. Here is the indispensable reference that should accompany the instrument aboard. Cmdr. Bruce Bauer, a professional navigator and master mariner with the U.S. Merchant Marine, has distilled years of hands-on experience into an eminently readable guide to buying, adjusting, using, and repairing sextants.

The Sextant Handbook is dedicated to the premise that electronic navigation devices, while too convenient to disregard, are too vulnerable to rely on exclusively. The book is designed to make beginner and expert alike conversant with this most beautiful and functional of the navigator's tools. Topics include:

• Assembly and Disassembly
• Vital Adjustments
• Avoiding Problems
• Rough Weather Sightings
• Oiling and Cleaning
• Immersion Baths
• Emergency Silvering
• Finding and Buying Used Sextants
• And Much More

You'll also find a list of distributors, manufacturers, and dealers worldwide, a discussion of future trends, and numerous helpful hints, including sighting with eyeglasses and using a Rude starfinder. All in a thoroughly revised edition of a book acclaimed by navigation professionals.

Tartalomjegyzék:

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Short History

Astrolabe

Latitude Hook

Quadrant

Cross Staff

Back Staff

Sextant

Chapter 2 Elements of the Sextant and Four Vital Adjustments

Perpendicularity

Frame and Index Mirror

Frame and Horizon Glass

Parallelism

Index Mirror and Horizon Glass

Telescope and Frame

Adjustment Procedures

Chapter 3 Attachments and Accessories

Astigmatizers

Double Star Prism

Wide View Horizon Glass

Davis Prism Level

Bubble Horizon Attachment

Neck Straps

Visual Aids

Chapter 4 Care, Maintenance, and Repair

Oiling and Cleaning

Immersion Bath Procedures

How to Hold

Where to Put Down

Mounted Sextant Boxes

Emergency Silvering Techniques

Applying Paint

Resilvering Horizon Glass

Chapter 5 How to Buy a Sextant

Where to Find Them

Prices

Five Ground Rules to Avoid Problems

Taking Test Sights

Interstellar Test Table

Discovering the Dropped Sextant

Reconditioning Costs

Chapter 6 Sighting Techniques

Inversion for Location

Precalculating Azimuths

Rocking or Swinging an Arc

Sun's Upper Limb

Shades for Sun, Moon, and Venus

Correcting for False Horizon

Rough Weather Sighting Techniques

Making a Monocle

Chapter 7 Correcting the Sight

The Thirteen Errors

Correcting for Moon, Venus, and Mars

Correcting for Wave Height

Chapter 8 Timing the Sight Accurately

The Hack Watch

Using a Tape Recorder

Counting Paces and Stopwatches

Attaching Stopwatch to Sextant

Chapter 9 Searching for Stars

The Necessity for Preplanning

Finding Sunrise

Using the Rude Star Finder

Converting Local Time

Using H.O. Pub. No. 249

Making and Using a Wrist Board

Chapter 10 Sextants of Tomorrow

Is the Sextant Doomed?

Coming Developments

Appendixes

A--Sextant Check Procedures

B--Sextant Manufacturers

C--Distribution and Dealers

D--The Navigator's Basic Tool Kit

E--Making and Using an Artificial Horizon

F--Table of Interstellar Angles for Practice Sighting and Sextant Testing

G--Useful Addresses

Bibliography

Index