Smithsonian
  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
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  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating Without a Clock
    • Early Voyages
    • Dead Reckoning
    • Celestial Navigation
  • The Longitude Problem
    • Cash for Creativity
    • Early Sea Clock Experiments
    • Innovations in England
    • Innovations in France
    • The Chronometer
    • Observing the Skies
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Wreck of the Arniston
  • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Early Contributions
      • Meet the Clockmaker: William Cranch Bond
      • Meet the Navigator: Eleanor Creesy
    • Wilkes Expedition
      • Meet the Mapmaker: Charles Wilkes
      • Maps and Charts
      • The "Scientifics"
  • Navigate at Sea! Activity

Explore More

Dolphins »
Pipe »
The Nautical Almanac »
John Harrison »
Dial for Marine Timekeeper made by William Cranch Bond, 1812-1815 »

Challenges of Sea Navigation

Traveling the world’s oceans offered amazing adventures and posed immense risks. Wild forces beyond human control ruled the waves.  

Wind, War, and Weather

Determining position and maintaining direction under routine conditions depended on knowledge of winds and currents. Turbulent seas and bad weather endangered crews, threatened vessels, and spoiled the best-laid navigation plans.

Distances

Deepwater sailing called for different skills than “coasting” with landmarks in sight. On the open sea, sailors relied on dead reckoning—estimating a new position based on knowing a ship’s last position, speed, and direction. But over long distances, it was subject to ever-increasing errors.

Charts and Sailing Directions

Ignorance of vast stretches of ocean and coastline characterized navigation until well into the 19th century. Each crossing yielded information for better charts and sailing directions.

Instrument Accuracy

Finding latitude became easier with the invention of angle-finding instruments, but finding longitude remained difficult until a seaworthy clock was perfected. A heaving deck and a cloudy sky made instrument readings of Sun and stars, complicated in the best conditions, even more difficult.

  • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea »

    A British fleet is lost at sea.

  • Navigate at Sea! Activity »

    Use a sextant and chronometer to keep yourself on course. And hurry! You want to beat the record of the clipper ship Flying Cloud!

1034.jpg

Wreck of the Association
“Sir Cloudisly Shovel [sic] in the Association with the Eagle, Rumney and the Firebrand, Lost on the Rocks of Scilly, October 22, 1707,” artist unknown, 18th century.
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK

2011-006246-att-1.jpg

Longitude Act of 1714
This act authorized prizes—up to £20,000—for solving the longitude problem.
Credit: Library of Congress

Latitude and Longitude

Latitude and Longitude
Length: 1 Minute, 16 Seconds
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

230-shipwreck-a16333_f-ol_small-test_rgb.jpg

"Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast," 1667
This painting by Ludolf Backhuysen depicts three Dutch cargo ships.
Credit: Ludolf Backhuysen, Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington

212-1027151-portolan-chart-by-jorge-aguiar-dl-1027151.jpg

Compass Rose
Compass rose on a chart of the Mediterranean, 1492.
Credit: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
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  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
      • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea
      • Navigate at Sea! Activity
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
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  • Privacy
  • Contact
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  • Press
  • Donate
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