Maritime Trivia

[mckee]

I just signed up and introduced myself and someone commented that as a user of nautical charts I might be able to help folk out in that field. So here's the short background. I sailed for years as a deck officer on sailing vessels (10ft-175 ft), and am a USCG licensed capt, and an internationally certified watch officer. I've done a ton of dead (deduced) reckoning, and bunch of celestial navigation, coastal piloting, and of course modern navigation. SO that said, if you have historical/traditional sailing or navigation questions fire away.

The Extreme Nautical Trivia source is right here. Let me know if you all have questions about charts old or new, or various methods of navigation (historical, or not)... the sextant is on the shelf next to me, the compass is around here somewhere, and the backstaff hangs on the wall in the shop.

[Ascension]

With a background like that don't feel too shy about commenting when you see something askew...chime right in. You know more about certain things than many of us and that sort of info is valuable.

[pamoa]

wow what a curriculum
welcome on board

[mckee]

The only thing all that means is that my job skills are 200 years out of date

[Ascension]

Wasn't there a Jimmy Buffett song sort of like that, "A pirate 200 years too late"?

[Jaxilon]

Welcome aboard matey

[mckee]

@Ascension... yes there is... however its always dicey asking a member of the American Merchant Marine about pirates

@Jaxllon... thanks

[Korash]

Well, I am sure that you will have a good time here. If it is a map, we want to do it right. Or help you make it right.

And on that note, I actually have a question for you.

I am running a game where the characters have pirates as a major foe and these pirates are located in a bay with tides much like the Bay of Fundy. I have placed low tide at about 10 feet and high tide somewhere about 25 feet (reasonable or not I have no idea). I was thinking that the bay basically a huge sandbank just under the water with some land permanently above where the pirates have made their bases. The sandbanks are very mutable in that they move around and very rarely stay visible for long. The pirates have a way of tracking where the deep water is and the PCs are to find a map (old) of the deep water.

Now for my question: Are there symbols, and what would they be, that would show this sort of place? Symbols that would be hand drawn preferably.

Thanks for the lend of your nautical wisdom.

[Talroth]

Well, I am sure that you will have a good time here. If it is a map, we want to do it right. Or help you make it right.

And on that note, I actually have a question for you.

I am running a game where the characters have pirates as a major foe and these pirates are located in a bay with tides much like the Bay of Fundy. I have placed low tide at about 10 feet and high tide somewhere about 25 feet (reasonable or not I have no idea). I was thinking that the bay basically a huge sandbank just under the water with some land permanently above where the pirates have made their bases. The sandbanks are very mutable in that they move around and very rarely stay visible for long. The pirates have a way of tracking where the deep water is and the PCs are to find a map (old) of the deep water.

Now for my question: Are there symbols, and what would they be, that would show this sort of place? Symbols that would be hand drawn preferably.

Thanks for the lend of your nautical wisdom.

Parts of the Bay of Fundy have tidal ranges of around 50 feet. However it is a fairly special case caused by the shape of the land that then funnels water to create the extreme tides.
As for a symbol? Really depends on the chart type. What era are you looking at? Shifting sands and unreliable channels have been marked different ways by different map makers.

[mckee]

Hang in there and I will give you a decent answer, maybe tonight.