Navigation problems divide into two parts, and confusing them is the reason this subject seems simpler than it is.
The first is knowing which way you are facing. A compass…
For most of the history of ocean navigation, a ship's crew could tell you how far north or south they were with reasonable confidence and had very little idea how…
A compass needle points north. Almost everyone knows this and almost nobody knows what it means.
It does not point at the North Pole. The geographic North Pole is a…