The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

24 QUESTIONS FOR WHEELSMEN AND WATCHMEN. The Marine Review, beginning with this issue, opens a course of simple navigation by the question and answer method. The first list of questions to- 'gether with suggestions as to the best means of studying same, is appended herewith. The chief merit of this course will be that those who follow it will be educating themselves as practical deck on watch officers. All questions will be made as .practical as they possibly can. The average wheelsman and watch- man is of the opinion that his posi- tion is not recognized and is too far removed from that of his supetior offi- cers to be-of any account in the minds of the boat's owner or manager. This is a mistaken idea for the owner is no less interested in his welfare, taking into account, of course, the différence in their stations, as he is in those oc- cupying higher 'positions. | Wheelsmen and watchmen entertain this idea sim- ply because their positions do not bring them in as close touch with the owner or manager as do that of the officers. Nevertheless; the average owner is in- terested in his wheelsmen and watch- men, especially so if they are ambi- tious and are endeavoring to advance themselves. It stands to reason that he should be interested in them, for will he not bé obliged, sooner or later, to draw from this same source men to. officer his boats. The master and mates were wheelsmen and watchmen before they became officers, therefore, one. is a natural outgrowth of the -other. No owner is going to be slow in recognizing the higher qualifications of a man no matter what berth he may be filling on board his ship. It is to his interests to do so and he is do- ing it. ae Owners want men on their boats who are thoroughly competent to per- form all the duties necessary to insure the safety of the property intrusted to their care. They want men who are competent navigators in addition to being skillful pilots. They want men to sail their boats who are perfectly familiar with the compass under any and all conditions. These conditions are many and require book study. You cannot acquire this knowledge by simply being employed on a_ boat. This subject is within the reach of nearly everyone who is willing to de- vote his time to its study and there is no good reason why you should not make an effort in that direction. If you are going to be a lake sailor be the right kind. The MARINE REVIEW will lay the right foundation for you. Owners and managers are awaken- TAE MarINE. REVIEW ing to the fact that the safety of their property depends as much on the nav- igational ability of the master in ac- curately directing the course of the vessel outside as it does in the skill- ful handling of craft in the rivers and other narrow channels. It is only natural then that owners are desirous of officering. their boats by men who have this ability. The secret of suc- cessful sailing on the great lakes lies principally in this one thing. The knowledge that the wheelsmen and watchmen will obtain in following this. self-instructive course will be of great assistance to them in acquiring the desired information. Another object of this special course is to bring the wheelsmen and watch- men in closer touch with the owner and 'manager, so that if there be any barrier between them this course should be the means of removing it. We -want the wheelsmen and watch- men, as well as others, to ask as many questions in regard to their work as they would like' Do not be afraid that your question may be a foolish one. A good way to find out things is to ask all sorts of questions about them. It is to be hoped that this spe- cial course will meet with the hearty - approval of MarINne REVIEW subscrib- ers and readers. It is our aim to as- sist every man aboard ship. Following is the first list of questions with suggestions: It is assumed that the student is able to "box the compass." His first step then in the work is to acquaint himself with the number of each point; in other words, he should be able to "box the compass" by naming the number of the point instead of by the name.of the point itself, For example, NNE is 2-points, that is, N 2-pts. E; NYE is %-pt., that is, a %4-pt. course, and is of course, read NYE. NEYN is a 3%4-pt. course and maybe read N 3'%4-pts. E, and so on with the other points of the compass. North and South are always zero points on the compass, and all points are reck- oned from these, towards east and west. By examining any compass card it will be readily and easily observed that simi- lar or equal points are always the same number of points or quarter points from N. or S. For example, NNE, NNW, SSE and SSW are similar or equal points, since they lie the same number of points on either side of the meridian of the compass, north and sottth being thus called, or N. and S. represents the meridian of the compass. The 6-pt. courses are ENE, WNW, ESE and WSW; the 5-pt. courses are NE x E,. NW x W, SE x E and SW x W;; the 3-pt. courses are NE x N, NW x N, SE x S and SW x S; the 7-pt. courses are BacN Wx No Er x Sand W .x.S. When we say a 6-pt. course we know at once that it must mean either ENE, WNW, ESE or WSW. It will also be observed that there are 4 of every kind of courses, except the 8-point courses, which are east and west, because they are 8 points from N or S. You must be careful not to reckon your courses from the east and west points. For example, you should not. say that E x N, E x 5, W x WN or W x S are I-pt. courses be- cause they are l-pt. from either east or west. These are 7-pt. courses because they are 7 points from the meridian of the compass. They are one point from east and west, but they cannot be called one point courses. Just bear this in mind. The young sailor should be as familiar with the number of pdints in each course as he should with its name. He should also be able to name instantly any such questions as these: "How many points is it from NNE-to E x S? from S x W to WSW? from WIN to NWY4W? from SE to S x W%W?" No -one can claim familiarity with the com- pass who can not do this. It is essential to know this in determining the point of the compass a sailing vessel is head- ing on in thick weather by knowing the direction of the wind and the blasts of her fog horn. For example, supposing the wind is North, and you hear a sail- ing vessel blowing one blast of her fog horn; in which direction is the vessel proceeding? When a sailing vessel blows one blast of her horn in fog it denotes that she is on the starboard tack with the wind forward of the beam. A sailing vessel is on the starboard tack when the wind comes over her starboard side and her sails belly out to port. A sailing vessel will lie-from 5 to 6 points from the di- rection of the wind when beating to windward; hence, if we count to the left. from the direction of the wind 5 to 6 points we will at once determine the approximate direction the vessel is steer- ing in. Knowing this on board a steam- er the steamer can at once determine the direction and amount that she must shift her course to go clear of the sailing ves- sel. Remember that a steam vessel must always keep clear of a_ sailing vessel when both are under way and both are manageable. -Example, supposing a ves- sel lies 5 points from the wind, how will she head' close-hauled: on the star- board tack with the wind north? We simply count 5 points to the left of N, and 5 points to the left of N is NW x W, hence, the vessel. is heading about NW x.W. A sailing vessel is on the port tack when the wind comes over the port side and the sails belly out to starboard. In thick weather a vessel on the port tack beating to windward, wind anywhere