Maps and sailing

Maps and sailing

This text is connected to an image, that portraits the ancient map. That map is so inaccurate, that we cannot even believe, that somebody can navigate with that thing. The inaccuracy of the ancient maps is understandable because at that time were not GPS systems and satellites, and people thought that the Earth was flat, which caused the problems with cartography.

The thing is that if the form of the Earth is wrong, the projection of the map goes wrong, and that thing causes inaccuracy in the maps. So that is one example, how necessary is to know the form of the Earth or every other particle if we want to make the map for that thing. But those ancient maps were used for navigation.

How to use this kind of map in navigation?

The answer is that the ancient sailors followed the coastline, and that means that those sailors didn't need the maps at all. They needed the list of the cities, what they should pass, and the rules, how to sail between those cities. Things like reefs can pass by taking enough distance from the coastline. Or they can be found by measuring the depth by using the rope, where is a stone or some other weight.

In the time of trimarans, the depth of the ships was not very big, and that means that the sailors didn't need so big skills. So the ships, what were row stayed near the coastline, rather than went to open seas. The great sailships went to the open sea because of their depth was too big for the coastal sailing. The thing is that until the radio was invented the leaving from the coastline was dangerous because the ship would not find back to the port.

The reason why the western seafaring advanced in the Mediterranean area is that the sea area is limited. And there are many islands. Of course, Polynesians created also very effective ways to sail, and the skills of those Polynesian sailors are impressive. But the reason, why the Polynesians are good sailors is similar to the Mediterranean people. Compass made possible to determine the direction, where the ship was going. And the mechanical clock, the chronometer was necessary to determine the longitude. The sextant was used to determine the latitude.

Radio navigation.

Modern sailors use radio navigation systems and GPS for finding their locations. The radio navigation system called "Loran" is one of the most brilliant inventions, which is created for ships. The "Loran" system is the radio transmitter, which sends the signal, and the ship, what uses the radio bearing system must just drive towards the radio, what just repeats the name of the harbor, and that is one of the simplest and effective ways to navigate without satellites.

And the Loran is more effective than satellite if we must find the direction, where we want to drive our ship. If we are at open seas, we must take the bearing, and lock the inertial in that direction. That thing is a very suitable navigation system in the middle of the Atlantic, but at the archipelago, we must use a more advanced navigation system in use.

Image:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/posidonius-early-world-maps.jpg

The sails would decrease the fuel consumption

The sails would decrease the fuel consumption

https://controllingsociety.blogspot.com/

(Picture I)

The sails would decrease the fuel consumption


The carbon dioxide benefits and the prize of the fuel are forcing the ships to find new ways to travel on the seas, and one of those things would be the sails. In the simplest solution, the normal merchant ship would equip only with the large parachute, which causes the decreasing of fuel consumption, which will make traveling cheaper and naturally friendly. But there is also tested the mylar sails, what looks like the sails, what are used in the sails, what are used in the junks.

This kind of systems are automatized, and the thing is that the sail can turn in the mast if there is a need to transfer to use engines for a run. The computer system can control the angle of the sails by using the sensor, which looks like a weathercock. That kind of thing can be a very good advantage for the sails.

If the ship uses wind generators, it will create also electric power by using windmills

But there is another way to use the wind in the ships, and that thing is the windmill, which will create electricity to the boat or ship. The best windmill the upright mill, which can easily installed on the mast. The windmill would be pulled in the mast when it would not be needed, or it cannot operate. The wind cylinders or Flettner rotors are not a new idea and in the year 1925 the first ship, what uses this system has crossed the Atlantic, and then the idea of this power system was forgotten until 2008, and now the new ships what are using Flettner rotors are built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor

The modern material allows making larger and more flexible rotors, which looks like some kind of half-parboil. The winds of those new versions could be pulled in, what would give more power to those cylinders. In this case, the ship would use normal propellers, which are connected to the electric motors, and the thing would get power from the windmills. There is one thing, what people would not know about the turbines.

That thing is very simple, and in this case, the clean wind power would be used to make the hydrogen by using electrolysis, and that hydrogen can drive in the turbines. Or it can be used in the fuel cells, which makes possible to use clean hydrogen power in the engines of the ships of tomorrow, what would use hydrogen as the fuel.

If we would want to make a ship, what would not need combustion engines except the special cases, we might use the wind generators to create electricity for the electronics and other systems like radars. The windmills or wind generators can also operate the electric motors of the driving systems.

The wind generators can also create hydrogen for turbines of the ship

When we are thinking about this kind of things in the point of the view of the shipping, that thing might give free power for the ships, but it can also give something else to the ships. If we would think about the antisubmarine vessels they could use electric motors when they are hunting for submarines, and when they would need explosive power, they can turn to use turbines.

When we would want to make a silent ship, what must have the capacity to change the power sources in seconds to turbines, we might think the sail,  what have the same structure with a normal square sail. And when the turbines will start, the engine would pull the sail in the structure, what looks like the screen, what is found in every classroom. After that, it can turn the sail in the same direction as the mast.

Picture I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor