Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 13, 2004 at 23:03:13 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: A Ransome Moment... posted by Jonathan Labaree on September 13, 2004 at 19:48:05:
I agree that a 22-year-old not knowing the cardinal points of the compass is shocking
Not knowing that 'N' stands for 'North' would be a bit suprising, yes, but not knowing any of the others (SW by S for example...) seems fairly normal to me in these days. I read my Ransome like all of us here and 'Secret Water' just about finished me off. I really couldn't make any sense out of the bearings they took. But then I learnt to use a compass in my school cadet corps- we still had those back in the '50s. And when I learnt that West was really 270 degrees it was with the same sense of relief that I felt when we adopted the metric system and stopped thinking in that ghastly mess of Imperial units.
Modern children, if they learn about the compass at all, learn it in degrees. And I'm sure they're the better for it.
And even as old salts; in a wind and gale, which would you understand best? "Steer South west by south, Mr Helmsman!" or "Steer 202 degrees!"? And yes, I'm aware that 202 may not be the right number...