old style compass bearings

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barnaclephill

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I'm reading Harry Pidgeon. The wind came from 'east by north'. I've heard John Wayne say 'north by east' on some war movie.

What would they call NE? What would they call NNE and ESE, for example? I know they had 32 points of the compass, but what is the equivalent nomenclature today?
 
Yes, there are 32 point of the Compass If you divide 360 by 16 you get 11.25 degrees, which is one compass point.
It goes as follows.
North, N by E, NNE, NE by N, NE, NE by E, ENE, E by N, East, E by S, ESE, SE by E, SE, SE by S, SSE, S by E, South, S by W, SSW, SW by S, SW, SW by W, WSW, W by S, West, W by N, WNW, NW by W, NW, NW by N, NNW, N by W, and back to North.

So East by North is 078.5, NE is now 040, NNE is 022.5, ESE is 112.5

There are also variations such as NE a quarter E, which gives a modern equivalent of 47.8 degrees!

The old sailors were a lot more exact than we sometimes give them credit for.

Hope this helps you unravel Harry.

Brgds
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm reading Harry Pidgeon. The wind came from 'east by north'. I've heard John Wayne say 'north by east' on some war movie.

What would they call NE? What would they call NNE and ESE, for example? I know they had 32 points of the compass, but what is the equivalent nomenclature today?

[/ QUOTE ]

Same ..... thats the answer. Based on the 32 points to a Compass rose.

Nav lights, lookout sightings are all based on the 32 point system.

The silly thing was when I was Cadet - one item to do as part of training was to recite the 32 points of compass - Box the compass - but to also recite Box the compass in 360 !! Yep ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 etc. etc. !!
 
Of course, the new Euro metric compass, with 100 degrees will be imposed soon. The north pole will be relocated to Brussels. It is anticipated that the Americans will stick with the existing Babylonian-based system, (apt or what) and it is hoped there will be no consequences in joint military operations due to directional misunderstandings.
 
Many years ago, I was taught there were 6400 mils on a compass. 0 was north, 1600 was east 3200 was south and 4800 was west. But that was in the southern hemisphere and 0 did point to either Brussels, Paris or New York, whichever you preferred.
I believe that under the metric distance system over a Kilometre 1 mil was 1 metre or somesuch.
 
Mils were used by the artillery, if I remember correctly, to ensure accuracy of their barrages ( like the Somme, I suppose). They are also useful for estimating heights and ranges to and from known objects. Ask anyone who bought a new compass from Aldi and actually read the instruction leaflet.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Of course, the new Euro metric compass, with 100 degrees will be imposed soon. The north pole will be relocated to Brussels.

[/ QUOTE ]
We're working on it ! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
News page
 
Older navigators not only had to be absolutely familiar with the 32 points and the quarters, but also to be able instantly to real off the diametric opposite, eg when reversing a course.

BTW, everyone of course knows that there is no such direction as North by Northwest, as in the Hitchcock film?
 
I queried the Hitchcock direction years ago - to be eventually told that the title meant 'going North by Northwest Airlines' - I think this might have been a cover up for the original mistake ...........
 
[ QUOTE ]
It goes as follows.
North, N by E, NNE, NE by N, NE, NE by E, ENE, E by N, East, E by S, ESE, SE by E, SE, SE by S, SSE, S by E, South, S by W, SSW, SW by S, SW, SW by W, WSW, W by S, West, W by N, WNW, NW by W, NW, NW by N, NNW, N by W, and back to North.

So East by North is 078.5, NE is now 040, NNE is 022.5, ESE is 112.5

There are also variations such as NE a quarter E, which gives a modern equivalent of 47.8 degrees!



[/ QUOTE ]

N, N 1/4E, N 1/2E, N 3/4E, N by E. N by E 1/4E, N by E 1/2E, N by E 3/4E, NNE.
NE by N 3/4N, NE by N 1/2N, NE by N 1/4N, NE by N, NE 3/4N, NE 1/2N, NE 1/4 N, NE. And so on. Gives 128 different compass directions, each differing from its neighbours by 2.8125 degrees (not that anyone was bothered by a fraction of a degree!).

The funny thing is that when they finally adopted degree notation, they didn't go for the 360 degree system but instead used the quadrantal system. Directions started from either N or S, whichever was the nearer, then added easterly or westerly angles to get the desired direction. So SE would be S 45 E, SW was S 45 W, NE would be N 45 E and so on. So the numbers increased from 0 to 90 (E), dropped to 0 (S), increased again to 90 (W) and finally dropped to 0 (N). Meant some careful thinking when told to "come 20 degrees to starboard", particularly if you were already steering something like N 85 E.
 
Thank you, I think I've got it now.

Yes Mike, "the old sailors were a lot more exact than we sometimes give them credit for."

Sometimes I don't need to be that exact, but that's how exact they wanted to convey to the reader.
 
How come I can still box the compass to quarter points from memory yet I can't remember what I did day before yesterday? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
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