Hello Shipmates,
I've been playing around trying to learn the old compass rose. I found out a few things and developed some memory aids. Drawing my own compass helped tremendously. See attachment. You will note the intersecting archs around the perimeter of the compass - these are drawn to divide the circle into points.
Here are a few more memory aids.
The 4 large points contain a single letter, N, S, E, W (cardinal points)
The 4 secondary points contain two letters combining the cardinal points. NE, SE, SW, NW
The 8 smaller tertiary points have 3 letters combining the cardinal and secondary points. NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW, NNW.
The 16 smallest points all contain the word BY: North By East, NEBN, NEBE, EBN... etc. These refer to the cardinal and secondary points only - the tertiary points are not used in reference to "by" points.
A cardinal letter always follows the word BY - South West by West... etc. There is no such heading as North by North West or South West by West South West. Also I don't think there is such a heading as North by West and a quarter North... THAT point, rather, might be given as North and three quarters West.
Just playing with a quadrant at a time lessens the confusion. For example, just practice with the North East quadrant first and discover how it makes sense. The others follow the same pattern.
Draw your own rose with paper and a draftsman compass, you can't do that with a circle of 360 degress ... try drawing half of 45 and you'll get a headache; dividing a sector into 90 equal parts is no picknic. The old compass rose has a total of 32 points with the addition of quarter marks. very easy to make.
If the captain ordered North and a quarter East the helmsman would stear to the first tickmark to the right of North. If North East and a half North was ordered the wheelman steared to the second mark to the left of NE... etc. I was too lazy to draw every quarter mark.
Next time you're bored give the old compass points a try... you'll soon realize it has some merit over the 360 degree system.... Who needs 360 degrees anyway. You'll just wear yourself and the stearing gear out trying to keep that precise. Might as well make the compass 720 degrees... lol.
I own some pocket compasses that only show tick marks at 5 degree intervals - thats only 72 compass points. Might as well have printed the old rose and made orienteering some fun.
The really interesting thing here is that after a while you won't need written point letters to tell you what point you're looking at. As long as you know which large point is North you'll know the others, and North may be identified with color rather than a letter from the alphabet. I bet that even before you begin studying the old compass points you could close your eyes and from the very start imagine 8 of them; North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West. That's already a fourth of the points. Think a bit harder and imagine the points between these such as North North East... etc. That's half the points.
Admittedly, the toughest points for me to learn were the BY points such as North by East, but adding a little relative bearing grease to my brain quickly put those points in order.
The quarter marks were almost a no-brainer. Just remember that the BY points have no quarter.
Have fun and keep at it - that's how tradition survives modernity.
Cheers
I've been playing around trying to learn the old compass rose. I found out a few things and developed some memory aids. Drawing my own compass helped tremendously. See attachment. You will note the intersecting archs around the perimeter of the compass - these are drawn to divide the circle into points.
Here are a few more memory aids.
The 4 large points contain a single letter, N, S, E, W (cardinal points)
The 4 secondary points contain two letters combining the cardinal points. NE, SE, SW, NW
The 8 smaller tertiary points have 3 letters combining the cardinal and secondary points. NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW, NNW.
The 16 smallest points all contain the word BY: North By East, NEBN, NEBE, EBN... etc. These refer to the cardinal and secondary points only - the tertiary points are not used in reference to "by" points.
A cardinal letter always follows the word BY - South West by West... etc. There is no such heading as North by North West or South West by West South West. Also I don't think there is such a heading as North by West and a quarter North... THAT point, rather, might be given as North and three quarters West.
Just playing with a quadrant at a time lessens the confusion. For example, just practice with the North East quadrant first and discover how it makes sense. The others follow the same pattern.
Draw your own rose with paper and a draftsman compass, you can't do that with a circle of 360 degress ... try drawing half of 45 and you'll get a headache; dividing a sector into 90 equal parts is no picknic. The old compass rose has a total of 32 points with the addition of quarter marks. very easy to make.
If the captain ordered North and a quarter East the helmsman would stear to the first tickmark to the right of North. If North East and a half North was ordered the wheelman steared to the second mark to the left of NE... etc. I was too lazy to draw every quarter mark.
Next time you're bored give the old compass points a try... you'll soon realize it has some merit over the 360 degree system.... Who needs 360 degrees anyway. You'll just wear yourself and the stearing gear out trying to keep that precise. Might as well make the compass 720 degrees... lol.
I own some pocket compasses that only show tick marks at 5 degree intervals - thats only 72 compass points. Might as well have printed the old rose and made orienteering some fun.
The really interesting thing here is that after a while you won't need written point letters to tell you what point you're looking at. As long as you know which large point is North you'll know the others, and North may be identified with color rather than a letter from the alphabet. I bet that even before you begin studying the old compass points you could close your eyes and from the very start imagine 8 of them; North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West. That's already a fourth of the points. Think a bit harder and imagine the points between these such as North North East... etc. That's half the points.
Admittedly, the toughest points for me to learn were the BY points such as North by East, but adding a little relative bearing grease to my brain quickly put those points in order.
The quarter marks were almost a no-brainer. Just remember that the BY points have no quarter.
Have fun and keep at it - that's how tradition survives modernity.
Cheers