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May 4, 2002
Vessel Data
Status: Enroute to Papeete, Tahiti
Latitude: 12-55.0’S
Longitude: 146-04.0’W
Total Distance: 3490.2 miles
Gone: 2527.4 miles
24 Hr. Dist.: 234.5 miles
To Go: 375.4 miles
Current Speed: 9.8 kts.
Engine Setting: 50 RPM’s Starboard engine
Weather:
 Air Temperature: 84°F
Humidity: 90%
Wind: E 15-20 knots
Clouds: Cumulus
Sea Temperature: 84°F
Currents:
Water Depth: 4691 Meters
Sunrise: 0532
Sunset: 1722
Aboard the TSGB
Day 13
Daily Log:
 The compass has been the most important tool for the Navigator for over 2000 years. The first compass was nothing more than the
sun or a star.
The Navigator could tell direction by watching where the star or the sun rose and set or where it was when it transited the meridian, its highest point in the sky.
Next came the magnetic compass, which would point to almost north, or the north magnetic pole. Tables and charts were soon
developed which would allow the Navigator to correct the magnetic compass for any location in the world to true north. This
was called variation. All of the major explorers of the 16 17 and 18th century navigated only with a magnetic compass.
 However, the sun and stars remained very important in the use of the magnetic compass as by taking observations of these bodies
over the compass, the Navigator could determine the error in the compass.
Just before the start of World War Two, the Gyrocompass was developed. It is a mechanical compass that points to true north and
has enough directive power to drive other types of equipment. The Gyrocompass is use in all types of Navigation equipment today.
 The newest development in compass or direction finding is the use of GPS satellite Navigation systems to determine direction.
Regardless of the type of compass, knowing the direction of travel on the ocean remains the most important part of navigation. And the magnetic
compass and the stars remain the most reliable direction finding instruments.
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