It is cloudy. Suddenly, Captain and First Mate spring into the wheelhouse. A commotion behind the Bridge stairs. What’s going on? At once, they rush to the Poop deck, sextant in hand. For a moment, the sun peeks out behind thick grey clouds. A triumphant cheer follows—they succeed before the sun hides again, and the drizzle starts once more.

Next, they are busy in the ship’s library. Spread over the table: almanacs, sight reduction tables, books, calculator, mathematical formulas. Now and then, a friendly heated discussion, then a nod, a smile, and a quite accurate plotting of our position on the chart.

They’ve been de-rusting their knowledge on celestial navigation, always a topic of great interest. Not an easy task, but a discipline that has helped sailors since immemorial times to cross oceans, find new lands, and map unknown coasts.

But before we look at celestial bodies, we need to understand the basics of navigation. For that, we base our exercises on coasting. Deckhouse tables become clothed with charts, pens, rulers, and compasses as trainees attempt to plot routes and positions.

The old European navigation techniques were limited to shorelines, landmarks, and basic observations of the sun and stars. The invention of the magnetic compass in the 12th century marked a big leap forward.

Even so, it took over 500 years and innovations for sea charts to include latitude and longitude lines. With basic instruments, a passionate spirit, and the quest for riches, explorers like Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus discovered a new world, and Magellan-El Cano achieved the first world circumnavigation.

One of the most important leaps came with the Sextant, a reflecting device allowing precise measurements between a celestial body and the horizon. Although Isaac Newton laid its principles, it wasn’t until the 1730s that Admiral John Campbell refined the idea, with John Bird fabricating the first in 1759.

Now, you can spot crew members on deck, sextants in hand, taking measurements and calculating angles. Celestial navigation lectures are held amidst sea-watch, sail-handling, and seabird surveys—a promising set of presentations aboard the Europa.

But it’s not just a sextant we need. Accurate timing is crucial for calculating longitude. Enter John Harrison, who solved the challenge of marine timekeeping with his chronometer, successfully tested in 1761.

Yet, European technological prowess paled in comparison to the Polynesians, the best traditional navigators in the world. With no written language, they explored and settled vast areas of the Pacific long before European expeditions, relying on memory, star knowledge, wave patterns, and wildlife behavior.

Their stories, passed down through generations, taught them to navigate the largest ocean on the planet without technology, using ancient wisdom still revered today.