Throughout the history of warfare at sea, navigation has been an important basic determinant of victory. Occasionally, new members of the fraternity of the sea will look upon navigation as a chore to be tolerated only as long as it takes to find someone else to assume the responsibility. In my experience, such individuals never make good naval officers. Commander Hobbs has succeeded in bringing together the information and practical skills required for that individual who would take the first step down the road toward becoming a competent marine navigator. At the outset of this book, the author stresses the necessity for safe navigation, but there is another basic tenet of sea warfare that this book serves. The best weapons system man has ever devised cannot function effectively unless it knows where it is in relation to the real world, where it is in relation to the enemy, and where the enemy is in relation to the real world. Not all defeats can be attributed to this lack of information, but no victories have been won by those who did not know where they were.

Large ships transporting hazardous cargoes, notorious marine accidents, and damage to marine ecosystems from tanker spills have heightened public concern for the safe navigation of ships. This new volume offers a complete, highly readable assessment of marine navigation and piloting. It addresses the application of new technology to reduce the probability of accidents, controversies over the effectiveness of waterways management and marine pilotage, and navigational decisionmaking. The book also explores the way pilots of ships and tugs are trained, licensed, and held accountable. Minding the Helm approaches navigational safety from the perspectives of risk assessment and the integration of human, technological, and organizational systems. Air and marine traffic regulation methods are compared, including the use of vessel traffic services. With a store of current information and examples, this document will be indispensable to federal and state pilotage and licensing authorities and marine traffic regulators, the Coast Guard, pilot associations, and the shipping and towing industries. It will also interest individuals involved in waterway design, marine education, and the marine environment.

The essential reference tool for reading maps, published by the Coast Guard, is now available to boaters in an attractive, colorful edition that includes important supplementary information about navigation. A must-have for all mariners, the first half of the manual reproduces the U.S. Coast Guard book, with coverage of basic chart concepts, the anatomy of a chart, how to read a chart, symbols and abbreviations associated with National Ocean Service and Defense Mapping Agency charts, and the chart numbering system. In addition, for extra value, the USCG version has been expanded to include navigation tips and techniques from Chapman Piloting and Seamanship, 64th edition, including details on positioning procedures, dead reckoning, and river piloting.

This clear and accessible introduction to coastal navigation outlines most of the techniques of piloting that are still fundamental to safe navigation even with modern electronic aids. Step-by-step, the reader is guided from simple to more complex piloting solutions. In addition to dead-reckoning techniques, the author covers tides and currents and explains how to use LORAN C and GPS. There are numerous illustrations throughout the text and practice problems at the end of each chapter. Key Advantages: fully updated new edition, perfect for sail and power, clear layout and instructions, comprehensive overage of all aspects of coastal navigation, review questions and answers, and suitable for self-study and Coast Guard or other similar courses.

Edition 45 / 2015. This book was uploaded in 2015 with latest updates. An interactive pdf is free with this book. Point your QR scanner on your phone at the code and the document will download. The pdf gives real time links to port authorities, marinas, USCG, AIS (see the ships on your screen), updates, Code of Regulations, warnings, wind charts, Wikipedia, weather, Facebook forum, cruisers forum, photos, videos, accident report, safety check, and useful information. The United States Coast Pilot consists of a series of nautical books that cover a variety of information important to navigators of coastal and intracoastal waters and the Great Lakes. Issued in nine volumes, they contain supplemental information that is difficult to portray on a nautical chart. Topics in the Coast Pilot include channel descriptions, anchorages, bridge and cable clearances, currents, tide and water levels, prominent features, pilotage, towage, weather, ice conditions, wharf descriptions, dangers, routes, traffic separation schemes, small-craft facilities, and Federal regulations applicable to navigation. Coast Pilot 1 covers the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and part of Massachusetts, from West Quoddy Head in Maine to Provincetown in Massachusetts. Major ports are at Portsmouth, NH and Boston, MA. Coast Pilot 2 covers the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Sandy Hook, embracing part of the Massachusetts coast and all of the coasts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Coast Pilot 3 covers the Atlantic coast from Sandy Hook to Cape Henry, including the New Jersey Coast, Delaware Bay, Philadelphia, the Delaware - Maryland - Virginia coast, and the Chesapeake Bay. Coast Pilot 4 covers the Atlantic coast of the United States from Cape Henry to Key West. Coast Pilot 5 covers the Gulf of Mexico from Key West, FL to the Rio Grande. This area is generally low and mostly sandy, presenting no marked natural features to the mariner approaching from seaward. so covers Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Coast Pilot 6 covers the Great Lakes system, including Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, their connecting waters, and the St. Lawrence River. Coast Pilot 7 covers the rugged United States coast of California, Oregon and Washington, between Mexico on the south and Canadas British Columbia on the north. Coast Pilot 7 also includes Hawaii and other United States territories in the South Pacific. Coast Pilot 8 covers the panhandle section of Alaska between the south boundary and Cape Spencer. In this volume, general ocean coastline is only 250 nautical miles, but tidal shoreline totals 11,085 miles. Coast Pilot 9 deals with the Pacific and Arctic coasts of Alaska from Cape Spencer to the Beaufort Sea. General ocean coastline totals 5,520 nautical miles, and tidal shoreline totals 18,377 miles. Coast Pilot 10 consists of excerpts taken from other coast pilots with reference to the Intercoastal Waterway